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WRESTED SGBIFT11ES MADE PLAIN, 

OR, 

Help for Holiness Skeptics. 

BT — — - 

W. E. SHEPARD, 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap Copyright No. 

- ^33 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



WRESTED SCRIPTURES 
MADE PLAIN, 



OR, 



HELP FOR HOLINESS SKEPTICS. 



BY 

W. E. SHEPARD, Evangelist. 

Author of Holiness Typology. 



"As also in all his [Paul's] epistles, speaking in them of these 
things ; in which are some things hard to be understood, which 
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the 
other scriptures, unto their own destruction." — II Peter 3:16. 



1900: 

Pentecostal Herald Press 

Louisville, Ky. 



64453 

p— — 

ji_i btffcu y of CoQ(|r« 

pWt! CitffES Neceued 

OCT 22 1900 

Copyright entry 

SECOND COPY. 

Ofciiwersri te 

OKOW division, 
O CT 26 I90U 



•933 



Copyrighted, 1900 

By 

Pentecostal Pub* Co. 



PBEFACE. 

The wise man said: "Of making many books 
there is no end." We wonder what he would say 
in these days if he were living. Still they multi- 
ply, and we have ventured to throw out another 
into the stream of time. 

Where there is a great need it is right to look 
for a supply. While many authors are writing val- 
uable books on this great and important question 
of holiness, we know of no work that takes up the 
subject of these wrested Scriptures used by many 
in opposing this second work of grace. We trust 
that this little work may fill a place in this great 
field of full salvation. 

All over the land objections are being raised 
•against the possibility of living a sanctified life, 
and the Word of God is being sadly perverted to 
substantiate these errors. In this work we hope to 
accomplish three things: 1, to help those who re- 
sort to these texts, wresting them to "their own 
destruction;" we hope to clear away the fog that 
seems to hang around them, and by so doing to 
lead them into the true light; 2, to enable those 
who are in the sanctified life to see the Word clear- 
ly on these texts, and thus be saved from an over- 

3 



4 Preface. 

throw of their faith; 3, and also to enable the 
sanctified ones to be a blessing to those who are in 
error. 

Trusting that the Holy Spirit may bless the 
work on its mission of light, we send it forth into 
the world, asking all who may read it to pass it 
along and pray God to bless the good and overrule 
all mistakes. 

W. E. S. 



CHAPTEE I. 

IF WE SAY WE HAVE NO SIN. 

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our* 
selves, and the truth is not in us!' — 1 John 1 :8. 

The quotation of this text is used probably more 
than that of any other in the Bible in the attempt 
to refute the doctrine of holiness. Perhaps it 
would be better to say the attempted quotation, for 
few ever get it right, and we never knew one to give 
chapter and verse. It is generally quoted thus: 
"He that saith he liveth and sinneth not is a liar 
and the truth is not in him ;" and that said over 

m 

so very rapidly that one can scarcely catch the 
words. Perhaps this rapidity is due to its fre- 
quent use. "Practice makes perfect," and practice 
in thus repeating such texts makes perfect adepts 
in denouncing Christian perfection. 

We are reminded of a certain lady who quoted 
these words j;o a young preacher, a friend of the 
writer, and was told that such ia text was not in the 
Bible. She replied that it was in her Bible. In 
about two weeks or so the preacher asked her if she 
had found that text yet. She said she had read 
through the Psalms, the four Gospels, and most 
of the Epistles, and had not found it, but still de- 

7 



8 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

clared, "It is there." One good result was that she 
got to reading her Bible. 

If we take this verse away from its context it 
would seem to teach that it is self-deception for 
one to lay claim to freedom from sin. But is it 
honest to snatch a text, or a portion of one, from 
the context either to prove or refute a doctrine 3 
when the tenor of Scripture teaches otherwise ? 

For one to take this text for a weapon against 
the experience or profession of holiness, proves 
that he is either ignorant of the Word of God, or 
else he is a designing man. If he is ignorant, he 
■should not attempt to teach; if he is a designer, 
then he should be shunned. 

If one is justified in taking a verse, or a part of 
the same, out of its place, then anything can be 
proved from the Bible. In one place it says, "There 
is no God ;" but taking in the context it says, "The 
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." 
Again we read, "Let him that stole, steal;" but 
when we read the whole verse it says, "Let him 
that stole, steal no more/' Three verses below the 
one in question, the apostle John could be made 
to say, "My little children, these things write I 
unto you that ye sin." But who would have the 
audacity to say that John taught the people to sin ? 
When we add the next word and read, "that ye sin 
not/' we get just the opposite thought. 

So it is with I John 1 :8 and many other wrest- 
ed Scriptures. Instead of teaching what opposers 



If We Say We Have No Sin. 9 

of holiness claim they do, they convey quite a dif- 
ferent thought, and sometimes the very opposite. 

What, then, does our text teach ? Eead the verse 
above, which is I John 1:7: "But if we walk in 
the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 
His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Suppose "a 
garment were spotted with ink, and it were put 
through a process which cleanseth from all ink, 
how much ink would remain? Now, if a state- 
ment were made to the effect that there was no 
ink left, would there be any self-deception in that ? 
On the same principle, then, if "the blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin," how much sin 
is left? Then, if all sin is cleansed, where is the 
self-deception if a testimony should be given to 
that effect? Of course, we would not advocate 
self-righteousness nor self -exaltation, but on the 
contrary always put Jesus first, and let everybody 
know that all we are is through Christ Jesus. In- 
stead of saying, "I am saved" and "I am sancti- 
fied," putting "I" first, say, "Jesus saves" and 
"Jesus sanctifies." Let the people see Jesus and 
not ourselves. We should be hidden away, but at 
the same time magnify what the Lord has done 
for us. Give Him all the glory. 

To get at the true meaning of the verse in ques- 
tion, let us suppose a conversation between a 
Christian depending, as all must, on the blood of 
Christ for salvation, and a self-righteous sinner, 



10 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

who thinks he is good enough and has no sin, con- 
sequently no need of the cleansing blood. 

Christian: My friend, did you know that "if 
we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have 
fellowship one with another, and the blood of 
Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin?" 
I have proved this to be true, and if you will come 
to Him as I did you may prove it for yourself, and 
be cleansed from all sin. 

Self-Eighteous : But I have no sin to be 
cleansed away; I have no need of the blood of 
Jesus. 

Christian: What? You say you have no sin? 
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
selves, and the truth is not in us." Surely you 
are wrong and self-deceived. You should repent, 
confess your sins, and be saved, for we read in 
I John 1 :9, "If we confess our sins, He is faith- 
ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness." 

Self-Eighteous: But I have never sinned, and 
do not feel that I have anything to confess or re- 
pent of. I pay my honest debts, and treat my 
neighbors well, and support my family, and I be- 
lieve I am just as good as any one. I am not a 
sinner, and have never done anything wrong. 

Christian : Surely, in saying that, you are mak- 
ing God a liar, for in I John 1:10 it says: "If 
we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a 
liar, and His word is not in us." 



If We Say We Have No Sin. 11 

Thus we get at the meaning of the last four 
verses of I John 1. The text in question, then, 
does not have any reference whatever to one who 
has been cleansed from all sin, but to one who 
•says he has no sin to be cleansed from, when ha 
really has sin in his heart. It is also just as ap- 
plicable to the unsanctified Christian who denies 
the further need of cleansing. 

Why should we turn lawyer and plead for sin 
as if the atonement was a failure and sin a neces- 
sity ? How some people fly to these wrested Scrip- 
tures and there pillow their heads, and slumber on 
in their carnal security, when God is thundering 
in tones of Sinai, "Sin no more !" He is swinging 
the awful danger signal down the ages, "Stand in 
awe, and sin not." 

What sad disappointment it brings to some peo- 
ple when God's prohibitions diametrically cross 
their carnal desires ! And so they seek for com- 
fort and ease in those misconstrued passages 
which will allow them to sin "just a little." 

A professing Christian lady, living in the 7th- 
chapter of Eomans, doing things that she ought 
not, and leaving undone the things she ought to 
do, because she was carnal, sold under sin, and 
it was no more she that did it, but sin that dwelt 
in her — pleading her cause one day in a conversa- 
tion with a sanctified lady, asked her to read a 
verse in the 7 th chapter of Eomans, as she sup- 
posed, for her vindication. The sanctified lady^ 



12 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

knowing that she had made a mistake in the chap- 
ter and verse, nevertheless read the one cited, 
when lo, it read : "What shall we say then ? Shall 
we continue in sin, that grace may abound ? God 
forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live 
any longer therein?" Whereupon the pleader for 
sin exclaimed, "That is not the verse I meant." 
An unsaved person, overhearing the conversation, 
spoke out and said, "Hold on ! That's Bible, just 
the same." 

Surely we have need of consistency; it is a 
great jewel. 




CHAPTEE II. 

THERE IS NONE KIGHTEOUS. 

"There is none righteous, no, not one." — Rom. 
8:10. 

Here we again face the necessity of studying 
the context to enable us to understand properly 
the meaning of a verse. To take out this segment 
of the text and declare that there is none right- 
eous, no, not one, will at once entangle a person 
in such a snarl of contradiction that he will be 
hopelessly unable to extricate himself. 

The word of God properly understood does not 
contradict itself. When we find some statement 
which is an apparent discrepancy, which flies in 
•the face of the general tenor of the Scriptures, 
we should neither expose our ignorance in the 
wrong use of it, nor practice wrong in "handling 
the word of God deceitfully." 

If, believing that it really means that there is 
none righteous in the world, we would place this 
portion of the text, "There is none righteous, no, 
not one/' alongside of the practical teaching of 
God's word, we would at once find ourselves in a 
dilemma, and the odds would be against us. 

Let us place by the side of it a few verses like 
the following: 

13 



14 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

"Little children, let no man deceive yon; he 
that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He 
is righteous." — I John 3:7. 

It would seem from this text that John was 
warning them against those who claimed there 
were none righteous, declaring that "he that doeth 
righteousness is righteous." 

"If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that 
every one that doeth righteousness is born of 
Him."— I John 2 :29. 

"And they (Zacharias .and Elizabeth) were both 
righteous, walking in all the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord blameless." — Luke 1:6. 

"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous 
man tavaileth much." — J as. 5:6. 

"For verily I say unto you, That many prophets 
and righteous men have desired to see those things 
which ye see, and have not seen them." — Matt. 
13:17. 

Thus, we find that instead of there being none 
righteous, no, not one, the Word shows the num- 
ber to be "many." 

The Scriptures abound both in precept and in 
examples of righteousness. If the atonement of 
Jesus cannot make men righteous, we ask, What 
can it do ? Our own righteousness, we confess, is 
"filthy rags," and Jesus said, "Except your right- 
eousness shall exceed the righteousness of the 
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." — Matt. 5 :20. 



There is None Righteous. 15 

We must have the inwrought righteousness of 
Christ. Not a robe simply, that covers our unright- 
eousness, leaving us sinful and unholy, but His 
righteousness imparted to us. 

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness." — I John 1 :9. If all unright- 
eousness is cleansed away, then certainly there is 
righteousness in its place. If the atonement of 
Christ cannot get down as deep as sin has gone, it 
must be a failure. But who would say that Christ 
made a failure in His atonement? 

There is so much ignorance abroad in the land. 
So many seem to think that it makes very little 
difference if they do "sin a little." They claim 
that one cannot help sinning some every day in 
word, thought and deed. They forget, or else are 
awfully ignorant, that the Word is extremely pro- 
hibitory on that line. Hear the Word of the 
Lord: 

"Stand in awe and sin not." — Psalm 4:4. 

"Awake to righteousness and sin not." — I Cor. 
15:34. 

"Go and sin no more." — John 8:11. 

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any 
longer therein?" — Eom. 6:2. 

"He that committeth sin is of the devil." — I 
John 3:8. 

"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin."— I John 3 :9. 



16 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

"Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not." — I. 
John 3:6. 

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die."— Ez. 4:18. 

We fail to see how anybody can read such com- 
mands, warnings and assertions, and then fly in 
the face of them all and think that sin is of little 
consequence. Beware ! "Be sure your sin will 
find you out." — Num. 32:23. One would better 
trifle with chain lightning than with sin. In view 
of the coming judgment, when the hearts of men 
will be weighed in the balances of divine justice, 
when sin will be sized up in its awful blackness 
and heinousness, let us see to it that none of the 
■accursed thing be found upon our souls. 

Sin and salvation are incompatible. They will 
not mix any more than oil and water. Saints can- 
not be sinners at the same time. One cannot live 
in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the 
world simultaneously. We have read of "natural 
law in the spiritual world." The property of im- 
penetrability obtains in the spiritual realm. Two 
bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same 
time. Neither can one body be in two places at 
the same time. One cannot be dwelling in the 
light of God and also be in darkness. He cannot " 
be in the service of Christ and simultaneously in 
the service of sin. 

"Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall 
save His people from their sins." — Matt. 1 :21. 
Not saved in one^s sins, but from them. What is 



There is None Righteous. 17 

a sinner? Let us see. A liar is one who lies; a 
deceiver is one who deceives; a murderer is one 
who murders; a sinner must be one who sins. 
What is a Christian? A Mohammedan is a fol- 
lower of Mohammed ; a Confucianist is a follower 
of Confucius; a Christian is a follower of Christ. 
How did Christ act ? He "was holy, harmless, un- 
dented and separate from sinners." — Heb. 7 :26. 
"As He is, so are we in this world." — I John 4:17. 
Are we Christians? Are we followers of the meek 
and lowly Jesus ? Are we imitators of that heav- 
enly example ? To say that one is a Christian and 
yet a sinner is about as ridiculous as to say that 
one is a truthful liar, an honest thief, an intelli- 
gent idiot, a healthy invalid, a living corpse, or a 
holy devil. 

* We are persuaded, though, that many times, 
when there is dispute on these questions, there is 
a greater difference in terms than in actual belief. 
In the Old Testament we find sins of ignorance 
mentioned together with the necessary offering 
for such. They were not classed with wilful 
transgressions, and were dealt with in another 
manner. In the same sense may we speak of the 
same now, though the expression, "sins of ignor- 
ance," is not mentioned in the New Testament. 
We will always be liable and subject to mistakes, 
blunders and infirmities. We will do things ig- 
norantly, which we will see afterwards, and for 
which we will be sorry. Yet these mistakes and 



18 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

blunders are not classed in the catalogue of sins. 
If they are, then everybody is a sinner, no matter 
what state of grace he has reached. They are all 
dead, for "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." 
They are not abiding in Him, for "he that abideth 
in Him sinneth not." They should not profess 
to be born again, for "whosoever is born of God 
doth not commit sin." It would make the Word 
of God irreconciliably contradictory. If those 
who claim to be Christians, and yet sinners, mean 
by sin, those things done in ignorance, we can 
accept their experience, but they should define 
themselves better. On the other hand, if they 
mean known sin, voluntary, wilful transgression, 
then we must believe them to be misguided and 
deceived. A thousand mistakes, or, to use the Old 
Testament expression, sins of ignorance, are com- 
patible with the Christian life, but not any known, 
voluntary sin. The former will not break the 
union with Christ, but the latter severs the con- 
nection. Perhaps some mean that they commit 
known sin daily, but not voluntary sin. They 
have a quick temper, or some other weakness, 
which gets the advantage of them so suddenly that 
they are overcome before they think. They know 
it is wrong, but it is not voluntary. It is not with 
their consent, for they much prefer not to be over- 
come. They go at once to the Lord and ask par- 
don, but are overcome again and again the same 
way. Thus, they say they are Christians, but sin 



There is None Righteous. 19 

every day. Suppose they failed, after one of those 
spells, to find pardon, would they not remain in 
the dark? Certainly this is an up-and-down ex- 
perience. We could not say an up-and-down 
Christian life, but rather an up-Christian and 
down-sinner life. Thank God there is a better 
way of going than this. God is able and willing 
to take the "down" element out of us. He pro- 
poses so to purify the heart that there will be no 
uprisings of unholy tempers in it. 

We will take up the context under consideration 
and see if it is a fair description of a real Chris- 
tian experience. If the portion, "there is none 
righteous/' applies to the Christian, then certainly 
the context applies to the Christian also. We will 
take them in their order. 

"There is none that understandeth, there is none 
that seeketh after God/' If, then, there is none 
righteous, then none of them understand or seek 
after God. 

"They are all gone out of the way, they are to- 
gether become unprofitable; there is none that 
doeth good, no, not one/' We must abide by the 
context ; so, all Christians are gone out of the 
way, are unprofitable, and none of them do good, 
no, not one. 

"Their throat is an open sepulcher ; with their 
tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps 
is under their lips." What a description of a 
Christian ! His mouth an open sepulcher, using 



20 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

deceit with his tongue, and having the poison of 
asps under his lips. 

"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitter- 
ness." And this a Christian ! 

"Their feet are swift to shed blood." A dan- 
gerous class of people, that. All this applies to 
the Christian, if the first part does. 

"Destruction and misery are in all their ways." 
All the ways of a Christian are destruction, and 
their lives are filled with misery. This is certainly 
a very dark picture, and not much in it to lure one 
on to embrace it. 

"And the way of peace have they not known." 
Take the medicine, brother, if you claim that there 
is none righteous. There is no peace then in the 
Christian's heart or life. He has never known 
such a thing. 

"There is no fear of God before their eyes." 
With a reckless, fearless, don't-care manner, he 
proceeds on the evil tenor of his way. All this 
applying to the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Who, that professes to be a Christian, is willing 
to lay claim to such a catalogue of sins as his ex- 
perience? If the first statement, "there is none 
righteous," applies to him, then all the rest apply 
to him also, for the subject is not changed until 
we come to the close of the clause, "there is no 
fear of God before their eyes." 

A little further on it says, "For there is no 
difference, for all have sinned and come short of 



There is None Righteous. 21 

the glory of God/' So, we see that it is simply 
showing forth man's condition in his unregenerate 
or sinful state. 

Coming back to the beginning of this descrip- 
tion, we find these words, "As it is written," and 
then follows that very accommodative text, with 
which so many have allowed the devil to morphine 
them. "It is written." Where is it written ? These 
statements are taken from the 14th and 53d 
Psalms, and the 59th chapter of Isaiah. In all 
of these places the context makes it plain that the 
reference is to the unregenerate people. Especially 
does Isaiah make this plain. He says, "But your in- 
iquities have separated between you and your God, 
and your sins have hid His face from you, that He 
will not hear." Then follows the place where it is 
written, as we see in Eomans, 3d chapter. But 
that this is not a necessary experience, incapable 
of being overcome, the verse just preceding the 
one quoted from Isaiah says, "Behold, the Lord's 
hand is not shortened, that it cannot save ; neither 
His ear heavy, that He w T ill not hear." 

This cuts off all escape, and leaves one without 
any excuse for pleading for unrighteousness. This 
catalogue of sins is arrayed against them because 
they have allowed sin to come in between them 
and God. But He declares that His hand is not 
too short to save nor His ear too deaf to hear. 

The very fact that David, Isaiah and Paul all 
use this language to illustrate the sinner's life, 



22 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

proves that his heart is just the same, no matter 
when and where you find it. All the way down 
the ages it is just the same. There never was and 
never will be any improvement till it is improved 
by the cleansing blood of Jesus. The world is not 
growing any better, only as hearts come in contact 
with Him that is "mighty to save." 

Dear reader, do not hide behind some refuge 
that will not stand the test of the judgment day. 
Beware how you plead for sin, lest you may not 
be able to pass muster on that great day of days. 




CHAPTER III. 

FOR THERE IS XO MAN THAT SIXXETH XOT. 

"If they sin against thee (for there is no man 
that sinneth not)/' — / Kings 8:k6; II Chron. 
6:36. 

"For there is not a just man upon earth, that 
doeth good, and sinneth not/' — Eccl. 7:20. 

To these texts we find a well beaten trail, filled 
with many weary travelers, like pilgrims to Mecca, 
"seeking rest and finding none." 

Why should one find comfort in any statement 
concerning the sinning of Old Testament saints? 
Suppose there were none in those days who did 
not occasionally "miss the mark ;" does that prove 
that in this Holy Ghost dispensation of Gospel 
light and truth, with an open Bible, illuminated 
with the Holy Spirit, and a present Savior, who 
came to "save His people from their sins," we 
have to "commit sin every day in word, thought 
and deed" ? We must remember that we are living 
in a better day than they lived in. There are 
many places in the Word which show us that we 
have better privileges and opportunities than Old 
Testament saints had. The measure of one's light 
is the measure of his responsibility. The more 
light and opportunity we have the more will God 

23 



24 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

require of us. The more grace we have in our 
hearts the easier can we live above the world and 
sin. Surely the grace of to-day exceeds that of 
Solomon's time. It is no excuse for us if those 
of former years did not do as they should have 
done. We are in a day of better things. We will 
notice some of these better conditions. 

1. A better Testament and better promises. 
"But now hath He obtained a more excellent min- 
istry, by how much also He is the mediator of a 
better covenant (Testament) which was established 
upon better promises." 

"For if that first covenant had been faultless, 
then should no place have been sought for the sec- 
ond/'— Heb. 8:G-7. The New Testament and its 
promises, according to this Scripture, are better 
than the Old Testament and its promises. Not 
that they of the Old are false, but the New has 
more light and power and glory and salvation. We 
should not throw away the Old. It is helpful to- 
day. It did the work G-od intended it to perform 
m its day. But a new order of things has come. 
A new dispensation has burst in upon the world. 
The power of the Holy Ghost has come and brings 
in more light and glory. Adam Clarke, in speak- 
ing of this text, says: "His office of priesthood is 
more excellent than the Levitical; because the 
covenant is better, and established upon better 
promises; the old covenant referred to earthly 
things; the new covenant to heavenly. The old 



For There is No Man That Sinneth Not. 25 

covenant had promises of secular good; the new 
covenant of spiritual and eternal blessings. As 
far as Christianity is preferable to Judaism; as 
far as Christ is preferable to Moses; as far as 
spiritual blessings are preferable to earthly bless- 
ings; and as far as the enjoyment of God through- 
out eternity is preferable to the communication of 
earthly good during time, so far does the new cove- 
nant exceed the old." 

2. A better hope. "For the law made nothing 
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; 
by the which we draw nigh unto God." — Heb. 7 :19. 

Everything in the realm of grace that is con- 
nected with this dispensation is more calculated 
for our betterment and salvation than things of 
the former dispensation. That was the shadow; 
this is the substance. 

Adam Clarke says: "The better hope, which 
referred not to earthly, but to spiritual good, not 
to temporal, but eternal felicity, founded on the 
priesthood and atonement of Christ, was after- 
ward introduced for the purpose of doing what 
the law could not do, and giving privileges and 
advantages which the law would not afford." 

3. A better salvation. "For the law T , having a 
shadow of good things to coane, and not the very 
image of the things, can never, with those sacri- 
fices which they offered year by year continually, 
make the comers thereunto perfect." — Heb. 10:1. 

Contrasting this with Heb. 10:14, "For by one 



26 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

offering He hath perfected forever them that are 
sanctified," we see that the possibilities of the old 
dispensation of grace fell far short of the grace 
to-dajr. The shadow of good things, with those 
sacrifices offered then, could not make the people 
perfect, says the apostle. But, here and now, un- 
der the offering of Jesus Christ, there is opened 
up a way for Christian perfection. So, we have 
a better salvation now than in Solomon's day. 

Under this head Adam Clarke says: "Such is 
the Gospel, when compared with the law; such 
is Christ, when compared with Aaron; such is His 
sacrifice, when compared with the Levitical offer- 
ings; such is the Gospel remission of sins and 
purification, when compared with those afforded by 
the law; such is the Holy Ghost, ministered by 
the Gospel, when compared with its types and 
shadows in the Levitical service ; such the heaven- 
ly rest, when compared with the earthly Canaan. 
Well, therefore, might the apostle say, the law 
ivas only the shadow of good things to come!' 

Summing up, therefore, the facts that we have 
to-day a better testament, better promises, a better 
hope, and a better salvation, we are persuaded that 
we must live a better life than was expected of 
those who lived when Solomon spoke the words 
under consideration. That we have better things, 
to place it beyond any question of doubt, we refer 
to ITeb. 11:40: "God having provided some bet- 
ter things for us." Then, if we have these better 



For There is No Man That Sinneth Not. 27 

things, we should not measure ourselves with, 
those of the other dispensation, who had so much 
less opportunity. Instead of hunting up some 
Old Testament loop-hole to crawl through, as an 
excuse for sinning, we should be where Paul could 
say to us as he did to those in Heb. 6:9: "But, 
beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, 
and things that accompany salvation, though we 
thus speak." Of course, when God has provided 
so much better things than those of old, He cer- 
tainly would require better things of us. So, we 
say, What if it does say at that time, "For there 
is no man that sinneth not," it is no excuse for 
us to sin to-day. But some one may say, "Even 
if the standard was not so high then as now, they 
did not live up to their own requirements, for it 
says, "There is no man that sinneth not." Cer- 
tainly, if they did not live up to their light, they 
would be counted sinners as well as we. But to 
say that Solomon meant that there was no one on 
earth but sinners in the sense of wilful transgres- 
sors, committing known sin constantly, is to fly 
in the face of all reason, as well as of the Word of 
God itself. If it be true that all were sinners in 
this sense, then there was not a saved person on 
earth. But we know that God did have His chil- 
dren on earth at that time. We might mention 
some, but any Bible student will call them to 
mind. Solomon himself was in a good state of 
grace when he made use of that statement. To 



28 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

say that there was not a person on earth in his 
natural state that did not commit sin would be 
true of that day, and also of ours. Or, to say that 
there were none that did not commit sins of ig- 
norance would be true. Then, what did Solomon 
mean? We do not believe that he meant any of 
these classes: that there were none who did not 
commit known sin, or none in their natural state, 
or none who did not commit sins of ignorance. If 
these texts were rightly understood we are sure 
they would appear far different from what they 
now appear to many. 

We are fully persuaded that Rev. Daniel Steele 
has given the proper exegesis of the texts in his 
book, "Love Enthroned." The following is his 
exposition: "Did not Solomon in prayer at the 
dedication of the temple (II Chron. 6:36) tell 
Jehovah that 'there is no man which sinneth not/ 
and does he not repeat the declaration in Eccl. 
7 :20, 'for there is not a just man on earth that 
•doeth good and sinneth not"? We answer that 
Solomon, when correctly interpreted, as he is in 
the Vulgate, the Septuagint, and most of the 
ancient versions, gives no countenance to sin. 
These all read, 'may not sin/ The Hebrew lan- 
guage, having no potential mood, uses the indi- 
cative future instead. The context must deter- 
mine the real meaning. The context is nonsense 
in King James' version, using an if where there 
is no room for a condition. 'If any man sin, for 



For There is No Man That Sinneth Not. 29 

every man sins/' Let me illustrate the absurdity 
of this translation: At the laying of a corner 
stone of a lunatic asylum, the Governor in his 
address is made by the reporter to say, 'If any 
person in the Commonwealth is insane, for every 
person is insane, let him come here and be cared 
for/ We should all correct the blundering re- 
porter and say may become insane, instead of is 
insane, in order to make the Governor talk sense. 
Correct the reporter, or translator rather, of Sol- 
omon and let him talk sense also, and you will 
hear him say, 'If any man sin, for there is no man 
who is impeccable, who may not sin/ This criti- 
cism applies to the quotation from Ecclesiastes 
also/' 

A note from Clarke's Commentary on this text 
from I Kings will give additional weight to the 
argument. He says: 

"This text has been a wonderful stronghold for 
all who believe that there is no redemption from 
sin in this life ; that no man can live without com- 
mitting sin, and that we cannot be entirely freed 
from it till we die. 

"1. The text speaks no such doctrine; it only 
speaks of the possibility of every man sinning, and 
this must be true of a state of probation. 

"2. There is not another text in the divine 
records that is more to the purpose than this. 

"3. The doctrine is flatly in contradiction to 
the design of the Gospel ; for Jesus came to save 



30 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

His people from their sins, and to destroy the 
works of the devil. 

"4. It is a dangerous and destructive doctrine, 
and should be blotted out of every Christian's 
creed. There are too many who are seeking to 
excuse their crimes by all means in their power; 
and we need not embody their excuses in a creed 
to complete their deception by stating that their 
sins are unavoidable." 

Surely there is enough in the Word to encour- 
age any one to seek a better experience than a 
sinning religion. To seek to justify sin by the 
Word of God shows a very low state of religion, to 
say the least. To measure one's self by others, es- 
pecially those of less opportunity, shows great 
weakness of Christian character. Christ is our 
pattern; He will lead us aright. Besides Him 
there are enough saints in all dispensations to 
incite any one to holy ambitions and purity of 
life and heart. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PAUL NOT PERFECT. 

"Not as though I had already attained, either 
were already perfect/' — Phil. 3:12. 

Here we find the plain statement from the 
apostle Paul declaring that he was not already 
perfect. 

These words are a soothing balm to those who 
would not for anything lay claim to perfection, 
and rather pride themselves in their humility and 
absence of profession, feeling, of course, that they 
would not be justified in claiming more than the 
apostle Paul. They say, "If Paul did not claim 
perfection, surely we ought not. If he was not 
perfect, then we are not." 

Here is another place where the context must 
determine the meaning of the text. Let us throw 
aside all prejudice and get at Paul's true thought. 
When we read about perfection in the Word, we 
should inquire what kind of perfection is meant. 
We find different kinds mentioned, such as abso- 
lute, referring to God only; angelic, pertaining 
to angels; edenic, that state of Adam and Eve in 
Eden before the fall ; resurrection, relating to our 
glorified state after the resurrection; and Chris- 
tian perfection, pertaining to perfect love. Now, 
the question is, which kind did Paul have refer- 

31 



32 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

ence to when he said he had not yet attained to it ? 
Let the context explain. "If by any means I 
might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." — 
v. 11. Here we have it — resurrection perfection. 
"Not as though I had already attained, either 
were already perfect." 

Of course, he had not arrived at that state of 
perfection, because he was not yet dead and resur- 
rected. Perhaps the question arises, Why should 
he be anxious about the resurrection, when all 
will be resurrected? King James' translation 
does not give the apostle's full meaning. The 
Eevised Version more clearly sets it forth: "If 
by -any means I may attain unto the resurrection 
from the dead/' The true thought is, he wanted 
to attain to the resurrection out from among the 
dead. The apostle John writes in Rev. 20 :4-6 : 
"And they lived and reigned with Christ a thou- 
sand years. But the rest of the dead lived not 
again until the 'thousand years were finished. This 
is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he 
that hath part in the first resurrection." 

Those who are so fortunate as to be in the first 
resurrection will be from, or out from among the 
dead, as Paul meant in the verse in question. 

It is the holy ones who thus will be resurrected, 
and those who are not will remain dead a thousand 
years more. Thus, Paul was very desirous of be- 
ing among the first to be brought forth from the 



Paul Not Perfect 33 

grave. This is a strong argument for holiness in- 
stead of against it. 

Paul was so intent on finishing his life thus 
that he was forgetting other things behind, and 
reaching forth to things before; and, like the 
racer in the games, he was pressing toward the 
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus. Oh, that all would be as anxious to 
live holy lives as Paul, and thus expect a place in 
the first resurrection ! 

A further proof that Paul means the resurrec- 
tion is found in Luke 13 :32, where Jesus says, 
"And the third day I shall be perfected," mean- 
ing doubtless His resurrection. The same word 
precisely that Paul uses. 

Instead of Paul inferring or teaching against 
Christian perfection, he suddenly bursts out with 
the declaration in a verse or two following, that 
he was perfect, meaning, of course, Christian per- 
fection. Hear him : "Let us therefore as many as 
be perfect, be thus minded." — Phil. 3:15. There 
can be no mistake that in this verse Paul believes 
we may be perfect in some sense, not in the abso- 
lute. Not that we can be infallible. He immedi- 
ately guards this point by adding in the same 
verse, "And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, 
God shall reveal even this unto you." And we 
find this to be true. In our earlier experience of 
perfect love we made many blunders and mistakes, 
but the gentle Spirit kept revealing them to as 



34 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

and made the way more and more plain as we 
•continued to walk with God. Thus, some things 
which we did then through ignorance without feel- 
ing any guilt, we could not do now without con- 
demnation, because of additional light. And no 
doubt we do things to-day which later on God will 
reveal to us to cease or we shall be condemned. 

Surely there is a sense in which we may be per- 
fect, or such admoniton would not occur so many 
times in the Word. Notice the following texts : 
... "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect." — 
II Cor. 13:11. 

"And this also we wish even your perfection." 
—II Cor. 13:9. 

"Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that 
•are perfect." — I Cor. 2:6. 

"That we may present every man perfect in 
Christ Jesus."— Col. 1 :28. 

, "That ye may stand perfect and complete in all 
the will of God."— Col. 4:12. 

"That we might see your face and might perfect 
that which is lacking in your faith." — I Thess. 
3:10. 

..' "That the man of God may be perfect, through- 
ly furnished unto all good works." — II Tim. 
3:17. 

"Make you perfect in every good work to do His 
will."— Heb. 13:21. 

"That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting 
nothing." — James 1:4. 



Paul Not Perfect. 35 

"If 'any man offend not in word, the same is a 
perfect man." — James 3 :2. 

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may 
have boldness in the day of judgment." — I John 
4:17. 

"Therefore leaving the principles of the doc- 
trine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." — 
Heb. 6:1. 

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
which is in heaven is perfect." — Matt. 5:48. 

What does all this perfection mean? It means 
simply this : We are to be perfect in our spheres 
as Christians, as G-od is perfect in His sphere. 
We are to fill our niche down here as He directs 
us. And in filling it we must have, through the 
grace of God, perfect love, perfect submission, 
perfect loyalty, perfect peace, and a perfect heart 
cleansing. Thank God for the possibility of 
Christian perfection. 

How astonishing it is that people want every- 
thing perfect that pertains to this world, but are 
so willing to take salvation at such discounts ! 
A lady goes into a millinery store, calls for a hat, 
and at once rejects anything that has a blemish 
on it. We call for a pair of shoes, and if there 
is something lacking we call for another pair. A 
farmer goes into a nursery and proposes to buy 
some young apple trees. If he detects woolly 
aphis or any other insect about the roots he will 
not take them. And who blames him? People 



36 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

want things right. They are not satisfied with 
anything short of it. God proposes to give us a 
perfect heart. Shall we repudiate His gift? 
Shall we ask for it to be discounted? Is it pos- 
sible to obtain such a blessing as a perfect heart ? 
"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through- 
out the whole earth, to show Himself strong in 
the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward 
Him." — II Chron. 16:9. Such a blessing is for 
us, and we are a disappointment to the Donor if 
we fail to accept it. 

We speak of other things that are perfect, and 
there is no fuss made about it at all. We find 
household articles branded "Perfection/' and we 
think it is all right. Even tobacco will carry that 
name stamped upon it. If perchance Christians 
use it to designate God's article of salvation, im- 
mediately there is a hue and cry made, and they 
seem to think it almost blasphemy. 

We pluck that lovely rose and say, "That is a 
perfect rose/' We see that noble steed passing 
swiftly by and exclaim, "That is the acme of per- 
fection \" We think nothing of it. If God is able 
to make a perfect horse or flower, is He not also 
able and willing to make a perfect Christian ? "0, 
consistency, thou art a jewel !" 



CHAPTER V. 

JOB DISCLAIMING PERFECTION". 

"If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall con- 
demn me; if I say, I am perfect, it shall also 
prove me perverse. 

"Though I were perfect, yet would I not know 
my soul; I would despise my life." — Job 9:20-21. 

Looking at this statement of Job without tak- 
ing into account the narrative, one would naturally 
suppose that Job laid no claim to perfection. 

There are some people who seem to be more 
anxious to find something in the Bible against 
perfection than in favor of it. As a rule, people 
generally find what they are looking for. If they 
are hunting for flaws in Christian character, con- 
tradictions to holiness in the Bible, or discrepan- 
cies of other kinds, they can succeed satisfactorily 
to themselves. We know of a certain kind of bird 
that succeeds in finding enough putridity in this 
world to encourage its continual seeking. Yes, 
we can find what we are bent on finding. If we are 
searching for pure Christians they are around. 
If we want to find the way of holiness made plain 
and possible in the Word, there is no trouble to do 
it. If we want to reconcile those apparent con- 
tradictions in the Bible, all of this can be done. 

37 



38 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

If any one wants to get at Job's thought in the 
text before us he can do so. Instead of looking 
for license to do wrong or to live imperfect lives, we 
should strive to find out how we can better fill the 
niche in which we live. 

We would not say that Job made a specialty of 
professing perfection, but we do claim that he 
did not deny the experience, as some would try to 
prove. 

To understand him properly, we must take into 
consideration the awful afflictions through which 
he was passing. The news had come that his oxen, 
asses, sheep, camels, servants, sons and daughters 
were either destroyed or taken away. Then Satan 
covered him with boils from head to foot. One 
boil is sufficient to make some men boil, but here 
is one that is literally covered with them. It 
seems that his only earthly comfort w^as to crawl 
out on the ash pile and scrape himself with a pot- 
sherd. Then, to cap the climax, his wife turned 
on him and told him to "curse GTod, and die." 
But this is not all. Three men, purporting to be 
his friends, came to comfort him; and instead of 
doing so, they fell to accusing him, and gave him 
to understand that all his suffering and afflictions 
had come upon him because of his lack of purity 
and uprightness. He is told in the chapter prev- 
ious to the one in question, "Behold, God will not 
cast away a perfect man, neither will He help the 
evil doers." — Chapter 8:20. That is, they would 



Job Disclaiming Perfection, 39 

inform him, that there was prima facie evidence 
that he was not perfect, or he would not be in the 
condition he was. Now, suppose Job had taken 
Bildad at his word and begun to tell the Lord 
that he was perfect, therefore by virtue of his per- 
fection he should not be so 'apparently cast away 
and afflicted; thus, pleading his perfection as a 
reason why he should not undergo such troubles. 
We can readily see how it would condemn him 
and prove him perverse. But he finds no fault 
with God, and lays no claim to any goodness as 
immunity from suffering. Hence, he very hum- 
bly asserts, "If I justify myself, mine own mouth 
shall condemn me; if I say I am perfect, it shall 
also prove me perverse." 

Surely it is very unwise and wrong for any 
Christian, no matter in what state of grace he is 
living, to tell the Lord that he is holy or perfect, 
therefore, because of his perfection, he ought not 
to be suffering affliction. Affliction, like rain, 
comes upon the just as well as upon the unjust. 
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but 
the Lord delivereth him out of them all." — Ps. 
34:19. 

Holiness does not furnish immunity from suf- 
fering or sorrow, and to plead so only proves one 
perverse. 

Even if Job had in his humility refrained from 
professing any perfection, or even had ignorantly 
declared that he was not perfect, there is One who 



40 Wrested Scr-iptures Made Plain. 

understood him far better than he understood 
himself, and whose testimony I would rather take 
than Job's. The Lord had previously settled that 
question beyond any peradventure, in the first 
chapter of Job and the very first verse: "There 
was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was 
Job ; and that man was perfect and upright, and 
one that feared God, and eschewed evil." To make 
the fact doubly strong, He repeats the statement 
twice to Satan. 

Now, if Satan, and Mrs. Job, and his "miser- 
able comforters," and even Job himself, should all 
decide that perfection was an unknown quantity 
in his experience, I prefer to take the testimony 
of Him who knew. God said that he was perfect, 
and He cannot lie. The trouble with critics is, 
they confound Christian perfection with absolute 
perfection. They forget that Christian perfec- 
tion may admit of mistakes and blunders, and 
that the absolute pertains only to God Himself. 

But even after Job had made his -statement 
disclaiming any perfection as a reason why he 
should not be afflicted, it would seem that he held 
up for the experience, intimating also that he was 
enjoying the same, and then stated just what we 
have been saying, that God allows the holy ones 
to suffer affliction as well as the unrighteous. 
Hear his declaration: "This is one thing, there- 
fore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the 
wicked." — Verse 22. 



Job Disclaiming Perfection. 41 

Does the Word of God teach the possibility of 
perfection and give any examples of the same in 
Old Testament times ? Let us see : 

"Noah was a just man and perfect in his gen- 
erations." — Gen. 6:9. 

"I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and 
he thou perfect." — Gen. 17:1. 

"Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God." 
— Deut, 18:13. 

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ; 
for the end of that man is peace." — Psalm 37 :37. 

"I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way." 
—Psalm 101:2, 

"He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall 
serve me." — Psalm 101 :6. 

"Blessed are the perfect (see margin) in the 
way."— Psalm 119:1. 

"For the upright shall dwell in the land, and 
the perfect shall remain in it." — Prov. 2:21. 

"I beseech Thee, Lord, remember now how 
I have walked before Thee in truth and with a 
perfect heart, and have done that which is good 
in Thy sight."— II Kings 20:3. 

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro 
throughout the whole earth, to show Himself 
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is per- 
fect toward Him/'— II Chron. 16:9. 

When we read such statements as these, we must 
certainly <admit that there was not only a possi- 
bility, but a real experience of some kind of per- 



42 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

fection in the Old Testament days. It is true that 
the standard of perfection may not have been as 
high as it is now, but that only puts more respon- 
sibility upon us, because of the greater privileges 
we enjoy. 

If one has obtained what salvation God intended 
him to receive, and is living in the sphere in which 
He desires him to live, and is filling the niche that 
He has marked out for him to fill, that person 
then is regarded as a perfect man. Even if that 
salvation, or sphere, or niche in those Old Testa- 
ment times did not mean as much as now, yet if 
any one measured up to the standard then he was 
counted a perfect man. 

Surely God could not require any less of a 
person and be consistent with His nature and gov- 
ernment. 




CHAPTER VI. 

PAUL THE CHIEF OF SINNERS. 

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners; of whom I am chief." — I Tim. 
1:15. 

This verse is quoted to prove that no matter 
how much grace one has received from the Lord, 
yet he can never get beyond the place where he is 
reckoned a sinner. "If Paul said he was the chief 
of sinners, then how dare we, with so much less 
grace and salvation, lay claim to anything high- 
er?" 

Let us examine Paul a ljttle. If he meant here 
that he, at this time, was the chief of sinners, 
let us see how this statement harmonizes with the 
rest of his teaching. 

1. Paul was an apostle. He wrote upon one 
occasion that he supposed he "was not a whit be- 
hind the very chiefest apostles." — II Cor. 11 :5. 
It is true that in his humility he :said he was "less 
than the least of all saints," when he considered 
what a sinner he had been, and how the Lord 
had saved him and exalted him to preach "the 
unsearchable riches of Christ;" but even in this 
humble statement he confesses that he is a saint, 

43 



44 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

which means a holy person, and, to say the least, 
it is above being the chief of sinners. 

He said that he was "allowed of God to be put 
in trust with the Gospel." We cannot understand 
how God could choose a man to be an apostle and 
commit unto him the Gospel to preach, knowing 
that he was the chief of sinners. 

2. He wrote -on another occasion that the mys- 
tery was "revealed unto the holy apostles." — Eph. 
3:5. This, of course, included himself, as he was 
an apostle. Here is a profession of holiness from 
Paul. It sounds somewhat different from being 
the chief of sinners. 

3. Paul told the Thessalonian church, "Ye are 
witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly 
and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you 
that believe." — -I These. 3:10. Suppose that he 
had added in the next verse, that he was the chief 
of sinners, how would they have reconciled the 
statements ? 

4. In another place Paul made a profession 
of Christian perfection: "Let us therefore, as 
many as be perfect, be thus minded." — Phil. 3 :1'5. 
Paul thus classes himself with those who had ob- 
tained this perfection. The chief of sinners would 
hardly harmonize in this place. 

5. He wrote to the Romans and said: "I am 
sure, that when I come unto you, I shall come in 
the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of 
Christ." — Rom. 15 :29. How can one be in the 



Paul the Chief of Sinners. 45 

fulness of the blessing of Christ, and at the same 
time be the chief of sinners? 

6. In another place he writes that he is cruci- 
fied with Christ, and that Christ is living in him. 
— Gal. 2 :20. One of the strongest expressions of 
full salvation. Is the chief of sinners crucified 
with Christ, and possessed with the Christ life ? 

7. He won hundreds to Christ and led many 
into the baptism with the Holy Ghost. How could 
one continually succeed in raising men to a higher 
level than himself ? How could one, the chief of 
sinners, succeed in getting other sinners to God, 
and then in getting them filled with the Holy 
Ghost? 

8. God trusted Paul to write a portion of the 
inspired Word; committed unto him a "dispen- 
sation of the Gospel;" through him wrought 
miracles of different kinds. Can we imagine a 
Holy God committing such sacred works to the 
chief of sinners? 

9. The very next year after Paul wrote this 
text about the chief of sinners, he wrote: "For I 
am now ready to be offered, and the time of my 
departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;, 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, 
shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, but 
unto them also that love His appearing." — II Tim. 
4 :6-8. How could the chief of sinners say, as he 



46 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

was facing death, that he had fought a good fight, 
and kept the faith, and was expecting a crown of 
righteousness? Is a crown of righteousness laid 
up for sinners? 

10. Paul wrote, "Awake to righteousness, and 
sin not." — I Cor. 15 :34. And again he asks the 
question, "What shall we say then? Shall we 
continue in sin that grace may abound ? God for- 
bid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any 
longer therein?" — Rom. 6:1-2. Strange that 
Paul should exhort others to quit sinning and 
keep right on himself. Where would be the con- 
sistency ? 

11. We read in the Word that "Sin is the 
transgression of the law." Also, "Therefore to 
him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to 
him it is sin." Now, if Paul was the chief of 
sinners, then he was a transgressor of the law. 
This would prove hypocrisy in him — teaching oth- 
ers what he himself did not live up to. If- he 
knew to do good and did it not, which he did if he 
were the chief of sinners, then how, could he be 
holy, and just, «and unblameable, as he declared 
he was ? This would certainly brand him as false, 
if he were then the chief of sinners. 

12. Long years before Paul wrote the text in 
question he repented of his sins. Christ met him 
on the road to Damascus, struck him down under 
a mighty load of conviction, and shortly he was 
a. gloriously saved man. Every sin he ever com- 



Paul the Chief of Sinners. 47 

mitted was blotted out, to be remembered against 
'him no more forever. Now, the question arises, 
If he were the chief of sinners at the time he 
wrote this text, did God give him a license to go 
back into the heinous business again, or did he 
deliberately take things into his own hands and 
go to sinning? If he were the chief of sinners. 
then we demand a solution. 

13. Notice carefully the apostle John on sin: 

"Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not; who- 
soever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known 
him/'— I John 3:6. 

"He that committeth sin is of the devil; for 
the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this 
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he 
might destroy the works of the devil/*' — I John 
3:8. 

"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he can- 
not sin, because he is born of God." — I John 3:9. 

If the apostle Paul was, at the time of that writ- 
ing, the chief of sinners, then, according to the 
apostle John, he was not abiding in Christ, had 
not seen Him, nor known Him. But Paul de- 
clares to the contrary in all three of these things. 
Hear him: * 

"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years 
ago/' etc.— II Cor. 12:2, This man that Paul 
refers to is himself. See the context. 



4o Wrested Scriptures Hade Plain. 

"Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" — 
I Cor. 9:1. 

"I know whom I have believed." — II Tim. 1:12. 

Thus, we see that Paul was in Christ; he had 
seen Him, and also knew Him. 

Again, if the aspostle John was correct, and 
Paul was the chief of sinners, then he was of the 
devil, and had not had the works of the devil de- 
stroyed out of him. But to say this of such a man 
would be hard indeed. 

Again, in the next place, according to John, 
Paul could not have been born of God, for such, 
John informs us, are not the chief of sinners. 

He 'that would make out 'Paul as saying that 
he was at this time the chief of sinners, flies in 
the face of reason, of the Word of G-od, of PauFs 
own testimony and experience. He would make 
him to be not only false and hypocritical, but a 
deceiver. 

But we know that it means something, for it is 
there. "Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners ; .of whom I am chief." That Christ 
came to save sinners there is no dispute in ortho- 
doxy. That he saved Paul is not a mooted ques- 
tion. That he was at one time the chief of sin- 
ners, all are willing to admit that in his humility 
he felt. That he was at the time of that writing 
such a character, either in thought or reality, is 
the "bone of contention." One may say that it 
was simply an expression of humility on the part 



Paul the Chief of Sinners. 49 

of Paul. in using the phrase, but there is too much 
at stake for one to make use of such an expression, 
so far out of the bounds of all truth, for humili- 
ty's sake. What, then, does he mean? He means 
just what he says. He is speaking of two things 
that came into his life — one was sin, and the other 
was salvation. He calls attention to the fact of 
his being the chief of sinners, and as the chief of 
sinners Christ saved him, thus giving hope for 
others. If Christ could save the chief of sinners, 
then might all have hope. The word chief is men- 
tioned simply to show the power of Christ's salva- 
tion. Notice the verse below: "For this cause I 
(the chief of sinners) obtained mercy/' This 
power was brought to bear upon one who was the 
chief of sinners. But that power acted long years 
in the past at his conversion. Then the word 
"chief of sinners" must apply to the time w T hen 
the power of salvation was exerted. Hence, we 
see that it was not at the time of that writing, but 
at the time of his conversion — not the chief sin- 
ner now, but the chiief sinner saved then. It makes 
a great deal of difference when we wake up to the 
fact that he is writing of the chief sinner saved 
instead of the chief sinner still in his sins. • It 
would be a poor salvation that left him still the 
chief of sinners. Adding a word or two to the 
text by way of explanation may throw light upon 
it: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 



50 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain, 

to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (or, the 
chief one saved). Not now a chief sinner, but a 
chief saved one who was a sinner. 

So that Paul, instead of lowering the standard, 
and confessing himself to be the chief of sinners, 
is doing the very opposite; confessing his great 
salvation, and showing that he is the chief saved 
one, by formerly being such a sinner, and now by 
having such a wonderful salvation. 

One of the great delusions of the day is, that 
one may be a Christian, and at the same time be 
a sinner. Never did the devil hatch up a greater 
soul-deceiving lie. Even the expression, "I am a 
sinner, saved by grace," is not only misleading, 
but unscriptural. As some one has said, "They 
will emphasize the word sinner and whisper 
saved/' If one is a sinner, he is not saved. Of 
course, the majority may understand what one 
means by it, but the fact is, salvation and sin do 
not mix. To say, that I was a sinner, but am now 
saved by grace, would be the truth. If we stick 
to the Word of God there is no possible way to 
harmonize the two states — sin and salvation. 
There is as much propriety in saying, I am a liar, 
though truthful by grace ; or, I am a corpse, alive 
by the power of God ; or, I am a drunkard, made 
temperate by the gold cure; as to say, I am a 
sinner, saved by grace. The fact is, the expression 
is put in the present tense, when it should be in 
the past, showing when the work was clone. If a 



Paul the Chief of Sinners. 51 

man is a corpse, he is not alive; if one is a liar, 
he is not truthful ; if he is a drunkard, he is not 
temperate. 

The word of God does not mix things. It puts 
them where they belong. If one is a sinner, he is 
not saved; he is of the devil, out of Christ and 
not born again. All of this John makes plain. 

Why people want to hide behind some wrested 
Scripture to their soul's destruction, when there 
is so much light shed on the pathway, is a mystery 
indeed. May the Lord save the people from being 
sinners. 




CHAPTER VII. 

I AM PURE FROM MT SIN. 

"Who can say I have made my heart clean. I 
am pure from my sin?" — Prov. 20:9. 

This text certainly does not insinuate that it is 
impossible to obtain a pure heart or to be made 
pure from sin. But it does teach what the whole 
tenor of Scripture makes plain, that no man can 
save himself or purify his own heart. While each 
one can comply with the conditions of salvation 
and be saved, yet no one has the power to do the 
work himself. This great fact is made plain by 
that wonderful text of Jer. 13:23: "Can the 
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his 
spots? Then may ye also do good, that are ac- 
customed to do evil." If the Ethiopian has power 
to change his skin, or the leopard his spots, then 
the sinner has power to change his life in and of 
himself. But the thought is, that if these cannot 
change skin or spots of themselves, then no one 
can change himself from bad to good. The rea- 
son is obvious. It is somewhat on the principle 
that no man can lift himself over the fence by his 
boot-straps. We once saw a picture in natural 
philosophy of a man in <a boat, with sail up, and 
bellows working in the stern of the craft, blowing 
on the sail. Now, the question arises, Why could 



I Am Pure From My Sin. 53 

not one lift himself over the fence with his boot- 
straps, or the boat be propelled by blowing on the 
sails? Simply because there is a back action in 
the whole business. When the power is exerted 
to accomplish the work there is a corresponding 
backward pressure which neutralizes the effort, 
and there is consequently a standstill. So it is in 
salvation. No man can save himself or make his 
own heart clean. There is a back action in it. 
There is a neutralizing force that brings things 
to a standstill. Here we see the utter failure of 
morality in saving the soul. Salvation comes 
from a power outside of self-effort. And yet one 
must put himself where that power can be ex- 
erted. We sometimes hear people 'say they believe 
in "working out their own salvation, with fear 
and trembling/' as if salvation could be wrought 
out by any work on our part, How can one work 
out salvation when he has no salvation on hand? 
As well might Adam have tried to breathe in the 
Garden of Eden, before God put the breath of life 
in him. The one who expects to work out his 
salvation before God puts the salvation into him 
certainly has «a very discouraging outlook before 
him. As well might a woman try to keep house 
without something to keep house on; or a grocer 
try to run a grocery store without any groceries 
on hand. There is altogether too much confidence 
placed in self-effort. If it were possible for one 
to save himself, whv did Jesus Christ come into 



54 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

this world to save us? Did He come on a picnic 
excursion? Did He come just to show people how 
to live well ? Was an example all that was neces- 
sary to save men, and could humanity do the rest ? 
Is the vicarious atonement of Christ a humbug? 
Was there no danger of men going to an awful 
hell? Imagine one sitting high and dry on the 
beach, and another excitedly throwing him a life- 
preserver, and shouting, "Escape for your life !" 
If he did not think the man utterly crazy, he 
would at least think it was worthless and uncalled 
for interest he was taking in him. But, on the 
other hand, if that same person was out in the 
sea drowning, and some one should throw him a 
life-preserver, he certainly would not think it was 
out of place, but would quickly lay hold on it and 
be saved. The Savior did not look down on this 
old world and behold it high and dry, free from 
all danger; but saw a terrible wreck, and thus 
heaven's great Life-preserver came by, that all 
might lay hold on Him and be rescued from sin 
and hell. 

Christ came into the world to do that which 
no man could do for himself. Some people turn 
over a new leaf, as if that would save them. Eeso- 
lution is good, and no one can be saved without 
a resolution to live a better life; but all the reso- 
lution in the world will avail nothing in the way 
of salvation unless it brings one to Christ, who 
must do the saving. If one had the power to turn 



1 Am Pure From My Sin. 55 

over a new leaf, and from that moment should 
never commit another sin, he would be lost just 
the same as if he had not resolved to do better. 
The explanation is this: Salvation does not con- 
sist in proper action simply from a given point in 
life till its close (even if that were possible). To 
the sinner it means not only right conduct, but 
it reaches both backward and forward. While the 
resolution is good, and ought to be made, yet there 
is a multitude of sins which he has committed in 
the past which must be settled and forgiven ; and 
turning over his new leaf does not blot out the 
dark record. Thus, if one had power to live from 
this on without committing^any more sin, he al- 
ready has on him enough to sink him into hell. 
Suppose I go to the grocery store and purchase a 
bill of goods. I cannot pay cash for them, so 
obtain credit. My bill runs up to fifty dollars. 
I ponder it over in my mind, and come to the 
conclusion that I am not treating the grocer right. 
He has been very kind to me, and now it is time 
that I was turning over a new leaf. With a de- 
termined resolution to do the right thing from 
this on, I go to my grocer and tell him that I 
have not been treating him right; that I have 
turned over a new leaf, and from this on will pay 
cash for all I get. I purchase some more groceries, 
paying for them, and promising him that it will 
continue this way in the future. Now, this would 
certainly be better than the former method of 



56 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

running in debt, but what would the grocer think 
of my plan? While he certainly would be glad 
for the change in the program, yet he would no 
doubt think, if he did not ask, "What about the 
fifty dollars you owe me?" That resolution, you 
see, would not settle the back bill. Neither will 
the sinner 5 s turning over a new leaf settle the past 
account with God. If he does not repent of the 
sins he has committed, and get forgiveness, he 
will certainly lose his soul in an awful hell. While 
one may pay his bill at a store, the debt he owes 
to God he cannot pay. He can only plead for 
mercy and say, 

"Jesus paid it all, 
All the debt I owe; 
Sin had left a crimson stain, 
He washed it white as snow." 

God saw that man was utterly unable to settle 
the account, so Christ came into the world and 
bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and 
thus opened up a possible way for all to be saved. 
Yet this redemption of Christ will avail the sin- 
ner nothing except he lays claim to it and avails 
himself of this privilege. For illustration : I lose 
my horse, and it wanders out upon the commons; 
and, being found there, it gets shut up in the 
pound. My friend passes by and sees the horse 
and recognizes my property. He inquires how 



I Am Pure From My Sin. 57 

much it will cost to redeem it, and when told, im- 
mediately pays the price, and then notifies me of 
the fact, and tells me to come and get the horse. 
Suppose I pay no attention to the fact, spurn his 
kindness, and never claim my horse? Would his 
redemption of it avail me anything? Certainly 
not. When Christ saw this world shut up in sin 
He paid the redemptive price to set us free. This 
price was His own life. He shed His own 
precious blood. He has been notifying us all 
down the ages to come and claim our redemptive 
rights. If we will not, then His redemption will 
avail us nothing. When the Emancipation Proc- 
lamation was issued some years ago four millions 
of slaves accepted it <and became free. Over 
eighteen hundred years ago Jesus Christ issued 
an emancipation proclamation, and thus offered 
freedom to every bond slave of the devil. Many 
have accepted, and many are accepting it, and 
liberty is theirs. If one chooses to remain in bond- 
age and serve the devil and sin, the emancipation 
proclamation will profit him nothing. 

The pardon of sin does not bring purity of heart. 
The text before us asks the question, "Who can 
say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from 
my sin?" A clean heart and purity from sin 
(inbred) certainly mean holiness. Can any one 
say truthfully, I have done this work myself? 
Who would have the egotistical impudence to fly 
in the face of God's word and declare that he had 



58 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

sanctified himself ? A believer can no more sanc- 
tify his heart than a sinner can save his own soul. 
It is the blood in both cases that does the mighty 
work. If it were possible to accomplish the work 
of cleansing one's own self, why the -statement, 
"the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us 
from all sin" ? 

While it is utterly impossible to do this our- 
selves, yet the atonement of Christ is sufficient 
to reach "deeper down and farther back" in the 
soul than sin has gone. If it cannot do this, then 
it is at least a partial failure. But who dares 
say it is a failure? It has cleansed millions be- 
fore, and can do the same again. We will risk its 
efficacy, depend upon its merits, and trust in its 
power. The heart must be cleansed in this world. 
There is no provision for it in the text. Death 
is not the agency. Death is the result of sin, and 
sin is the work of the devil. Jesus does not need 
to call on the devil or any of his works to help 
Him out in His work of sanctifying souls. Boz- 
rah's mighty Conqueror is all sufficient. Let 
Him undertake the contract, and He will not 
make any failure. 

Header, let Christ make your heart clean and 
purify you from sin. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SEVENTH CHAPTER OF ROMANS. 

This is a wonderful rendezvous. People com& 
from the North, from the South, from the East,, 
and from the West and find in this chapter a com- 
mon solace. It is a very fitting chapter. What 
wonderful comfort it gives to many to find out 
that Paul had just such a hard time as they. How 
often we hear the expression, "Well, my experi- 
ence is a good deal like Paul's," and then quote 
the seventh chapter of Romans, or pervert some 
of his other writings, making them mean what he 
never intended them to mean. Only the other day 
a lady remarked to the writer, when trying- to 
justify herself in not being sanctified, that her 
experience was a good deal like Paul's. We told 
her if it was like his she was all right. Another 
lady once said that her experience was in the sev- 
enth of Romans, and she never expected to get 
above Paul. We wonder what that grand old 
apostle of full salvation would say now to these 
professing Christians, who are wresting his teach- 
ings "unto their own destruction." 

In this chapter, Paul makes use of the follow- 
ing expressions: 

59 



60 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

"But sin, that it might appear sin, working 
death in me by that which is good." 

"But I am carnal, sold under sin." 

"But what I hate, that do I." 

"Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin 
that dwelleth in me." 

"For the good that I would, I do not; but the 
evil which I would not, that I do." 

"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I 
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." 

"I find then a law, that, when I would do good, 
evil is present with me." 

"0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death?" 

Looking at this chapter, as we find it with these 
statements in it, we ask the question, Was this 
PauPs experience at the time he wrote this Scrip- 
ture? Paul was a Christian from young man- 
hood to old age, and this was written only a few 
years before his death. So, if it was his experi- 
ence at the time of his writing it, then we may 
suppose it was his experience from first to last. 
The gist of the statements which he makes is this : 
Sin wrought death in him ; he was carnal and sold 
under sin; what he hated he did, because sin 
dwelt in him. He did not do the good that he 
ought to have done, but did the evil which he 
ought not. There was a law of sin in him which 
caused him to do thus. He cried out in his 
misery, "0 wretched man that I am!" 



The Seventh Chapter of Romans. 61 

We will compare these expressions with some 
of his other sayings, and see if there is harmony. 
Comparing Scripture with Scripture is a good 
method of interpretation. The Word, properly 
understood, does not contradict itself. If all those 
who claim that they do not believe in holiness 
would only take this into consideration it would 
marvelously help to clear away their doubts. Now 
for the comparisons. 

"But sin, that it might appear sin, working 
death in me/' etc. Compare this with Gal. 2 :20 : 
"And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live 
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and 
gave Himself for me." This was some two years 
before he wrote the epistle to the Romans. He 
declares that he has life — spiritual life. How one 
can have life, and at the same time have spiritual 
death, is a mystery hard to solve. 

"But I am carnal, sold under sin/' Then see 
Rom. 8 :2 : "For the law of the Spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of 
sin and death." If one is sold under sin, by what 
process of reasoning can one make out that he is 
free from the same ? When, a few years ago, they 
sold a negro under slavery, was he at the same 
time free from slavery? 

"But what I hate, that I do." He says it was 
because sin dwelt in him. This sin caused him 
to do evil when he wanted to do good. He dis- 
covered that it was a law in him, which he called 



62 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

the law of sin, which brought all this about, and 
consequently, evil was an ever present factor in 
his life. How does this compare with I Thess. 
2 :10 : "Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily 
and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves 
among you that believe?" Notice also his dying 
testimony: "I have fought a good fight; I have 
finished my course ; I have kept the faith." Does 
this look like doing the things he hated; that sin 
was constantly working in him; that there was a 
law which kept him from doing what he wanted 
to do? 

a O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death?" Did wretched- 
ness mark the experience of Paul? Hear him: 
"Yet always rejoicing." — II Cor. 6:10. We un- 
derstand how one would be miserable had he to 
drag around with him a "body of death," and 
•continually to have his good motives thwarted 
by the evil which was ever present; but we fail 
to see how one at this same time could look up 
and say that he was always rejoicing. If he were 
to give both testimonies at the same time, we 
would certainly think he was mistaken in one of 
them. But, says one, "Paul did not give both 
these testimonies at the same time." Now, we 
are getting at the truth of the thing. If we make 
Paul say that both these were his experiences 
throughout his Christian life, we certainly make 
him irreconcilablv contradict himself. To make 



The Seventh Chapter of Romans. 63 

him say that this "wretched" experience was his 
at the time at which he wrote the epistle to the 
Komans, will cause the same contradiction. Does 
he not say in the sixth chapter, that "Our old man 
is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might 
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve 
sin?" Does he not say, "For he that is dead is 
freed from sin ?" Does he not say, "How shall we, 
that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" 
Again he says, "That like as Christ was raised up 
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even 
so we also should walk in newness of life." "For 
sin shall not have dominion over you; for you 
are not under the law, but under grace." "For 
when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free 
from righteousness." "But now being made free 
from sin, and become servants to God, ye have 
your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting 
life." Here we have diametric opposition in ex- 
perience to the seventh chapter, and this all occurs 
in the preceding chapter. In the seventh he says 
that he was sold under sin ; that sin dwelt in him 
and held the mastery over him. In the sixth he 
declares that the body of sin is destroyed; that 
the proper Christian experience is freedom from 
sin; that we may have our fruit unto holiness. 
Probably not more than an hour or two at the 
most elapsed between writing the two opposites. 
Now, the candid seeker after light will honestly 
look for an explanation of this, and not seek a 



64 Wrested Scriptures Made Fiain. 

refuge in something that will not enable him to 
pass muster at the judgment day. 

The fact is, that the seventh chapter of Romans 
is a great parenthesis, thrown in between the sixth 
and the eighth, no doubt for the benefit of the 
Jews, as he says at the beginning, "For I speak 
to them that know the law/' He does it to show 
•the weakness of human effort under the law to 
give a satisfactory experience, either in saving 
from sin or satisfying the soul. Whether he 
meant us to understand that it was his actual ex- 
perience, trying to ohej God under the law with- 
out grace, or that he uses the first person singular 
simply as an illustration of one's experience in 
that condition, is immaterial; the lesson is the 
same. In the fifth verse of this same chapter he 
says: "For when we were in the flesh, the motions 
of sic (sinful passions, R. V.) which were by the 
law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit 
unto death/' In the eighth chapter and -eighth 
verse he tells us, "They that are in the flesh (un- 
regenerate state) cannot please God/' Here we 
have an explanation to the whole chapter. Coup- 
ling these statements with the thirteenth verse, 
where he says that sin worked death in him, shows 
beyond any question of doubt that he is describing 
the case of one "in the flesh" under the law. Not 
that he was in the flesh at the time of that writing, 
for he says, as just quoted, "For when we were in 
the flesh,"' showing here past experience. Being 



The Seventh Chapter of Romans. 65 

in the flesh, he had the experience of death worked 
in him, and, of course, could not please God. So 
in that condition he found evil present with him ; 
the things that he hated he did ; he was a wretched 
man, and cries out for deliverance. But, says one, 
in describing the experience of this chapter, he 
makes use of the present tense, which shows that it 
is his experience at the time of writing. And we 
have just proved that he uses in the fifth verse the 
past tense, describing the same experience, which 
is conclusive evidence that he is referring to his 
past experience. To say the least, it is an offset 
to the present tense argument. Does Paul con- 
tradict himself? By no means. His purpose is 
to impress this solemn fact upon the readers. He 
is a wise writer, and a great scholar from a human 
point of view. But when inspired by the Holy 
Spirit, his wisdom cannot be questioned. We 
want to call attention to the place where he 
changes the tense, and why. In describing his 
past experience he gives in the thirteenth verse 
his closing reason for this awful condition. Now, 
having made it plain that sin was in him; that 
the law revealed things in a clearer light; and 
that human effort was inadequate to the occasion, 
he puts it down as an inevitable result that such 
a state would follow, and, simply to make it more 
forcible, he changes to the present tense in the 
fourteenth verse, and says, "I am carnal, sold un- 
der sin." That is, under the conditions above de- 



66 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

scribed in the chapter, "I am carnal, sold under 
sin." Then follows a vivid and impressive ac- 
count of the distressed state of such a man. Do 
we not resort to the same method of employing 
the present tense for the purpose of emphasis? 
Perhaps the familiar rule of speech obtained in 
his day: "Habitual truths are in the present 
tense," increasing the force. Suppose I should 
take the same plan in describing my experience 
to a friend ; would he misunderstand me and say it 
was my experience at time of writing ? Let us see. 
"My Dear Friend: 

"I want to tell you a bit of my experience. 
There was a time in my life when I thought I 
was good enough. I was unawakened, and was 
living a good moral life. But under the preaching 
of the Word I saw my uncleanness and silfulness. 
I was all right before the light shone upon my 
path, but when the light came my sinfulness was 
revealed, and I found myself in a state of death. 
I try again to do good, but I cannot. The things 
I hate I find myself doing. It is the sin that 
dwells in me that causes the whole trouble. I find 
myself in a sad condition. "0 wretched man that 
I am!" Who shall bring about my deliverence? 
Thank God I have found the way; it is through 
Jesus Christ my Lord. There is therefore now 
no condemnation in my experience, for the Lord 
has taken it all away, and enables me to walk no 
more in the old sinful state." 



The Seventh Chapter of. Romans. 67 

If I should write thus to a friend, would he 
misunderstand me and try to make it out that I 
am yet in a state of sin and living a miserable life ? 
He certainly would not. Yet I have changed the 
tense, just as Paul did, in the very midst of de- 
scribing the experience. 

It would seem that any candid seeker after the 
truth would notice the remarkable and sudden 
change in the experience which Paul is describing, 
which immediately follows the statement, "0 
wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me 
from the body of this death?" Now hear him: 
"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
Here is the change; here is the deliverence. He 
gets out of the seventh chapter and into the eighth 
— just what every sin-tormented soul ought to do. 
With triumphant joy he declares in the first verse 
of the next chapter: "There is therefore now no 
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, 
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 
Not only does he clearly show that now he is, at 
this writing, enjoying the grace of God, having 
all the condemnation consequent upon a life of 
sin removed, but he also has the experience of full 
salvation or deliverance from inward sin. Hear 
him in the second verse: "For the law of the 
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free 
from the law of sin and death." Not only was he 
at the time of that writing free from the con- 



68 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

demnation of sin, but also from the inbred sin, 
which was the very root of all his troubles. 

In this lesson which is before us we have four 
laws mentioned, namely: The law of sin and 
death, the law of God, the law of the mind, and 
the law of the Spirit. It is a common belief that 
all through this life there will be of necessity a 
warfare between the law of sin and these other 
laws ; that in the economy of grace the three good 
laws can no more than keep the evil law in sub- 
jection, but cannot expel it, till later on at the 
hour and article of death the three will conquer 
and overcome the law of sin. But was this Paul's 
experience? No. It took only one of these laws 
to finish the law of sin, and that in this life. 
"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me free from the law of sin and death." 
Blessed deliverance ! Wonderful freedom ! Who 
would not seek for this grace, rather than pervert 
Paul's language and hide behind sin? 

But I hear some say, that the seventh chapter 
of Romans was Paul's justified experience, prior 
to his sanetifieation* If I remember correctly, 
Paul had a powerful conversion. It certainly was 
up to the standard of that experience. Is that 
chapter a proper delineation of a regenerated life ? 
Eeader, was that your experience as a child of 
God? Were you sold under sin? Did sin slay 
you and work death in you? Did you do the 
things that you hated, and the things that you 



The Seventh Chapter of Romans. 69 

would do, did you not do? Did you cry, "0 
wretched man that I am?" We are confident 
that God's regenerating power produces a better 
life than this. We do not deny that there come 
times in the justified life, when one feels the 
workings of sin. We know this is true. One 
may have times when sin gets the upper hand and 
causes him to do the things that he hates. In fact, 
as he endeavors to keep up the spiritual life and 
finds such an evil principle within, he may in a 
discouraged moment cry out, "0 wretched man 
that I am!" We do not deny the occasions, but 
we do deny that this is the life. Paul was giving 
this as his every-day life. This is not the life of 
a converted person. It is not the experience that 
Jesus gave me in conversion. I was not wretched. 
The Lord gave me power over the troublesome 
evil within. I found out that it was there, but 
had the blessed victory over it. I do not mean 
to say that I never yielded to its power, but that 
certainly was not my life. 

I am well aware of the fact that this is a moot- 
ed question with many as to whether this was 
PauFs experience in justification or not. It was 
not my object to discuss this phase, but to show 
that it was not his experience at the time of 
writing the epistle. To show that we are not alone, 
however, in both views, we quote from Wesley's 
Notes on this seventh chapter of Eomans. Be- 
ginning with the seventh verse, he says : " 'What 



70 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

shall we say then?' This is a kind of digression 
(to the beginning of the next chapter), wherein 
the apostle, in order to show, in the most lively 
manner, the weakness and inefficiency of the law, 
changes the person, and speaks as of himself con- 
cerning the misery of one under the law. This, 
St. Paul frequently does when he is not speaking 
of his own person, but only assuming another 
character. (Eom. 3:6; I Cor. 10:30; chap. 4:6.) 
The character here assumed is that of a man first 
ignorant of the law, then under it, and sincerely 
but ineffectually striving to serve God. To speak 
thus of himself, or of any true believer, would 
be foreign to the whole scope of his discourse; 
nay, utterly contrary thereto, as well as to what 
is expressly asserted. (Chap. 8.2.) 'Is the law 
sin? Sinful in itself, or a promoter of sin? 'I 
had not known lust! That is, evil desire. I had 
not known it to be sin. Nay, perhaps I should not 
have known that any such desire was in me. It 
did not appear till it was stirred up by the pro- 
hibition/' 

We think that a few thoughts from Clarke's 
Commentary would help establish this truth upon 
the hearts of the people. Commenting upon this 
chapter in Eomans, he says, concerning the four- 
teenth verse: But I am carnal, sold under sin. 
"This was probably, in the apostle's letter, the 
beginning of a new paragraph. I believe it is 
agreed, on all hands, that the apostle is here 



The Seventh Chapter of Romans. 71 

demonstrating the insufficiency of the law in op- 
position to the Gospel. That by the former is the 
knowledge; by the latter, the Cure of sin. There- 
fore, by / here he cannot mean himself, nor any 
Christian believer; if the contrary could be proved 
the argument of the apostle would go to demon- 
strate the insufficiency of the Gospel, as well as 
the law. 

"It is difficult to conceive how the opinioin could 
have crept into the church, or prevailed there, that 
'the apostle speaks here of his regenerate state; 
and that what was, in such a state, true of him- 
self, must be true of all others in the same state/ 
This opinion has most pitifully and most shame- 
fully not only lowered the standard of Christian- 
ity, but destroyed its influence and disgraced its 
character. It requires but little knowledge of the 
spirit of the Gospel, and of the scope of this 
episitle, to see that the apostle is here either per- 
sonating a Jew, under the law and without the 
Gospel, or showing what his own state was when 
he was deeply convinced that by the deeds of the 
law no man could be justified; and had not as 
yet heard those blessed words, Brother Saul, the 
Lord Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way, 
hath sent me that thou might est receive thy sight, 
and be filled with the Holy Ghost. — Acts 9:17. 

"In this and the following verses he states the 
contrariety between himself or any Jew while 
without Christ, and the law of God. Of the latter 



72 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

he says it is spiritual; of the former, / am carnal, 
sold under sin. Of the carnal man, in oppositioin 
to the spiritual, never was a more complete or 
accurate description given. * * * 

"Those who are of another opinion maintain 
that by the word carnal here the apostle meant 
that corruption which dwelt in him after his con- 
version; but this opinion is founded on a very 
great mistake, for, although there may be, after 
justification, the remains of the carnal mind, 
which will be less or more felt, till the soul is 
completely sanctified, yet the man is never dom- 
inated from the inferior principle, which is under 
control, but from the superior principle, which 
habitually prevails. * * * 

"But the word carnal, though used by the apos- 
tle to signify a state of death and enmity against 
God, is not sufficient to denote all the evil of the 
state he is describing; hence he adds, sold under 
sin. This is one of the strongest expressions which 
the Spirit of God uses in Scripture to describe the 
full depravity of fallen man. * * * 

"We must, therefore, understand the phrase, 
'sold under sin/ as implying that the soul was 
employed in the drudgery of sin; that it was sold 
over to this service, and had no power to disobey 
this tyrant until it was redeemed by another. And 
if a man be actually sold to another, and he ac- 
quiesce in the deed, then he becomes the legal 
property of that other person. This state of bond- 



The Seventh Chapter of Romans. 73 

age was well known to the Eomans. The sale of 
slaves they saw daily, and could not misunder- 
stand the emphatical sense of this expression. 
Sin is here represented as a person; and the apos- 
tle compares the dominion which sin has over the 
anan in question, to that of a master over his legal 
slave. Universally through the Scriptures man is 
said to be in a state of bondage to sin, until the 
Son of God make him free ; but in no part of the 
Sacred Writings is it ever said that the children 
of God are sold under sin. Christ came to deliver 
the lawful captive and take away the prey from 
the mighty. Whom the Son maketh free, they are 
free indeed. * * * 

"I have been the more particular in ascertain- 
ing the genuine sense of this verse, because it de- 
termines the general scope of the whole passage/' 

We think that these deductions ought to be 
sufficient to prove to any candid seeker after truth 
that the seventh chapter of Eomans is not a de- 
lineation of the apostle's experience at the time 
of that writing, or between his conversion and 
sanctification ; but that of a sinner under the law, 
trying to be right and utterly failing, because lack- 
ing the grace of God. 

Let me say in concluding this chapter, if the 
reader is still in the seventh of Eomans, do as 
Paul did — leap over into the eighth with joyful 
triumph, and then testify to the blessed deliver- 
ance. 



CHAPTER IX. 
paul's thorn in the flesh. 

In the second epistle to the Corinthians, twelfth 
chapter, is the record of PauPs "thorn in the flesh." 
This fact in the experience of the great apostle has 
caused a great deal of comment, and has been fear- 
fully wrested and misunderstood. Among the dif- 
ferent opinions extant concerning what it was, and 
certainly the least tenable, is the one which claims 
that it was the "old man ;" or, in other words, in- 
bred sin. A little careful study on this subject 
would no doubt satisfy any one as to what it was, 
how, when and where he received it. Certainly it 
can be shown that it was nothing in connection 
with sin. 

In introducing the subject, he says: "I knew a 
man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether 
in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the 
body, I cannot tell; God knoweth) ; such an one 
caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such 
a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I 
cannot tell; God knoweth) ; how that He was 
caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable 
words, which it is not lawful (margin, possible) 
for a man to utter." 

He then goes on to say: "And lest I should be 
74 



PauVs Thorn in the Flesh. 75* 

exalted above measure through the abundance of 
the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in 
the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest 
I should be exalted above measure." 

As every one knows, the man of whom he speaks, 
that was caught up into the third heaven, was him- 
self. In this state he had great revelations of the 
glories of the heavenly world. No doubt the apos- 
tle's meaning when he speaks of making known 
those revelations was that it was impossible, rather 
than unlawful, to do so. The first thing we wish 
to settle in this lesson is, that this thorn was not 
carnality. 

1. He states that the thorn came in connection 
with those revelations. Then, if it came at the 
time of the revelations, he certainly did not have 
it before. If the thorn was carnality, he did not 
have carnality just before the heavenly revelations. 

2. He said it was a thorn in the flesh. The 
word flesh in the Scriptures has two meanings — 
physical corporeity and carnality. In reference to 
the physical he says: "The life which I now live 
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." 
— Gal. 2 :20. In reference to the carnal he says : 
"So they that are in the flesh cannot please God.*' 
— Eom. 8:8. Flesh in both of these expressions 
cannot mean the same, else it would be an irrecon- 
cilable contradiction. To which flesh did the apos- 
tle have reference in the expression, "thorn in the 
flesh" ? To say that he meant carnality is non- 



76 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain, 

sense. It would be the same as saying he had car- 
nality in carnality if the thorn in the flesh was 
such. Then it must have been something which 
happened to his physical being. 

3. It was given him lest he "should be exalted 
above measure through the abundance of the reve- 
lations."' In other words, it was given him to keep 
him humble. If the thorn in the flesh was inbred 
sin, then inbred sin was given him to keep him 
humble. But the very root of pride, which is the 
opposite of humility, is inbred sin. Strange that 
something which produces pride should be given 
him to prevent the same. If carnality keeps people 
humble, then unsanctified people are more humble 
than the sanctified, and the more carnality the bet- 
ter. 

4. He prayed three times that it might be re- 
moved, but the Lord saw it to be best that it should 
remain. Now "the carnal mind is enmity against 
God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither 
indeed can be." — Eom. 8:7. Strange that God 
would want something to remain in him that was 
not subject to His law, but was real enmity against 
Himself. Paul had written to the Eomans about 
the time in which he had these revelations, and had 
declared that the "old man" was crucified, and 
that the body of sin was destroyed ; so then he must 
have been free from it. 

5. The best thing God could do then, consistent 
with His will, was to let the thorn remain, and to 



Paul's Thorn in the Flesh. 11 

say, "My grace is sufficient for thee." Is this the 
way that God deals with the question of carnality? 
This is the way some people deal with it. They 
think that we must battle against it all our life; 
that God's grace is sufficient for us; but that He 
will not destroy this element till we die. But the 
teaching of His Word throughout is, that we must 
have it destroyed now. 

6. Paul, in the ninth verse, defines the thorn 
in the flesh, and names it "infirmities," showing 
that it was a combination of things rather than one 
in particular. Is there any Scripture that makes 
inbred sin synonymous with infirmities? We have 
never seen it. 

7. He said he would glory in the infirmities, 
meaning the thorn in the flesh. The idea of Paul, 
after he had said so much in regard to getting rid 
of this awful fungus of the soul, turning around 
and saying, most gladly would he glory in it. This 
he does, if the thorn is carnality. 

8. He had scarcely finished the sentence of 
glorying in it, till we hear him say he takes pleas- 
ure in the same. What! take pleasure in car- 
nality? Just so, if the thorn in the flesh is such. 
Anyway, we may wonder how he could take pleasure- 
in that which a little while before he was so anxious 
to be rid of. Here we have the blessed proof of 
God's abounding grace, which is not only sufficient 
to make us endure for Jesus' sake the trials of life, 
but will also enable us actually to take pleasure in 
them. 



78 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

We think we have given sufficient proof that 
the thorn in the flesh was not carnality. What, 
then, was it ? If it was not inbred sin, then it was 
something in connection with his physical body. 
He said it took place fourteen years previous. In 
the margin of the Oxford Bibles are these words: 
"A. D. 46. At Lystra, Acts 14:6." Turning to 
this fourteenth chapter of Acts, we find the ac- 
count of Paul being stoned at Lystra, and dragged 
put of the city as a dead man. There is no doubt 
but that Paul was stoned to death at this time. 
Here he was caught up into Paradise, and saw 
and heard things that no mortal tongue could utter. 
What a change from the scenes of a moment be- 
fore ! With a howling mob around him, throwing 
brick-bats, and filling the air with their fiendish 
yells, it seems that he departs this life, and the next 
moment he finds himself amid the glories of the 
third heaven. God had a purpose in it all, of 
course, but was not ready for Paul to leave the toils 
of soul-saving down here. One might imagine the 
Lord saying, "Paul, what are you doing here? I 
am not quite ready for you to come home. There 
are some more souls for you to save down there, 
and you will have to spend a little more time in 
the work; then I will send for you." We think 
Paul, without any word of reluctance, said. 
"Amen," and while the waiting disciples were 
viewing his mangled remains, life came into the 
body again and Paul arose to his feet. Eight here 



PauVs Thorn in the Flesh. 79 

let me say that Paul evidently believed one could 
be absent from the body, and yet be in a state of 
consciousness. He was not a soul-sleeper. 

We see little opportunity for doubt that Paul 
had direct reference to his stoning at Lystra, being 
the time that he had the revelations, and conse- 
quently at this time he received the thorn in the 
flesh. Then, what was the thorn ? Just what any 
one would naturally suppose, viz., some physical 
affliction as a result of the stoning. We could 
hardly suppose that one could undergo such mal- 
treatment, resulting in death (at least for a little 
time), without some disfigurement of the body. It 
would not take many blows upon the face to render 
it more or less shapeless throughout life, even if 
it did get well. There are some Scriptural evi- 
dences which show very conclusively that such was 
the case with Paul, and, having these things to con- 
tend with throughout the latter portion of his life, 
we may well suppose it occurred at the time of his 
stoning, and hence, was the thorn in his flesh. 

Immediately after speaking of the thorn and 
praying for its removal, he breaks forth in these 
words: "Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, 
in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in dis- 
tresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then 
am I strong." (Eev. Ver.) It is evident that 
every word used here is in connection with this 
disagreeable thorn. First, through it he had weak- 
nesses. Surely, there was some weakness as a re- 



80 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

suit of that awful stoning. Second, he said he had 
injuries. Natural enough. Injuries that disfig- 
ured him, as we shall soon see. Then follows the 
word necessities. These were the natural result of 
his weaknesses and injuries. He was under the 
necessity of having certain care and help, which 
he otherwise no doubt would have dispensed with. 
Then he mentions persecutions. These persecu- 
tions came, no doubt, as a result of the thorn of 
which he speaks. Even some of the professed fol- 
lowers of the Lord brought about persecutions on 
account of his appearance. "For his letters, say 
they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily 
presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." — 
II Cor. 10:10. Persecutions from the brethren are 
worse by far than from the world. Following per- 
secutions, he speaks of distresses. It is reasonable 
to suppose that this affliction, the thorn in the flesh, 
was a constant mortification, in a sense, to him. 
The distressing fact of his facial appearance was 
continually confronting him. 

But this is not the only evidence concerning the 
nature of the thorn. According to some statements 
he makes to the Galatian church, it leaves little 
room for doubt that his trouble was a mutilated 
condition of his face, particularly affecting his eyes. 
We do not mean to infer that h£ had sore eyes, but 
a scarred face and weakened eye sight, that made 
him appear unsightly. Hear him in his address to 
that church: "And my temptation, which was in 



Paul's Thorn in the Flesh. 81 

my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected ; but received 
me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus/' — 
Gal. 4:13. He seemed so thankful to them that 
they did not reject him on account of his physical 
condition. In the next verse he even feels that they 
would have been willing to make an exchange of 
what was complete in them for what was so afflicted 
in Paul. "For I bear you record, that, if it had 
been possible, ye would have plucked out your own 
eyes, and have given them to me." It seems quite 
conclusive that his trouble was mainly with his eyes. 
As a further proof of this, we would call attention 
to the fact that Paul almost constantly had a com- 
panion with him, probably not only as an amanu- 
ensis, but a helper, because of impaired eye sight. 
Probably the only epistle Paul wrote with his own 
hands was to these Galatians. Evidently the rea- 
son why he did not write more was his practical 
inability. He did write the letter to these Gala- 
tians, for they had drifted into a sad state spirit- 
ually, and Paul, to prove that it was his own epistle, 
wrote it with his own hand, so that it would carry 
with it as much weight as possible. In our Author- 
ized Version he says, in the sixth chapter and elev- 
enth verse : "Ye see how large a letter I have writ- 
ten unto you with mine own hand/' But the Ee- 
visecl Version brings a further proof concerning 
the weakness of his eyes, when it says : "See how 
large letters I write unto you with mine own hand." 
This shows not onlv that he wrote the letter with 



82 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

his own hand, but that it was written in large char- 
acters. Why large letters? Because on account of 
impaired vision, he could do the work easier and 
better. Probably the only way he could write at all. 

Again, a little later in this last chapter of Gala- 
tians, he calls attention to his disfigurement, and 
says: "I bear branded on my body the marks of 
Jesus." — Gal. 6:17 (Rev. Ver.). Stockmen brand 
their stock in order to prove their ownership. Sure- 
ly Paul had the marks of Christ's ownership. The 
injuries he sustained, especially at Lystra, were 
most conclusive and lasting evidences of the fact of 
his loyalty and blessed relationship to our Lord 
Jesus Christ. He had inward evidences in his own 
heart that he was fully saved, and he not only mani- 
fested to the outward world the fact by a holy life, 
but he had the very brand stamped upon him; 
something which the world was not carrying. 

We would not like to lay this lesson aside with- 
out calling attention briefly to a few helpful sug- 
gestions. We learn from Paul's experience here 
that God does not always answer our prayers with 
a "Yes." If we would get the most out of our 
praying we must be so submissive to God that w r e 
will be as willing that He should say "ISTo" as 
"Yes." If He answered in the negative, He will 
place alongside of the refusal, "My grace is suffi- 
cient for thee." There should be a continual un- 
derstanding between every soul and the Lord, that 
wherever a negative answer is best it should be 



Paul's Thorn in the Flesh. 83 

given. Of course, it will be done anyway, but with 
that previous understanding it would save one from 
the disappointment. Another lesson we may learn 
is, that the very things we naturally dislike the 
most may be so changed when God reveals His will 
in them, that we may glory and take pleasure in 
them. To live in the praise life, where one can 
"rejoice evermore" arid "in everything give thanks," 
is a lesson which many Christians have not yet 
learned. Yet, with His sufficient grace, one can so 
live above the trials, or, rather, in spite of them, 
that there will be constant victory and rejoicing. 
Like Paul in this experience, one may have much 
need to undergo severe trials, not only to keep him 
where he should be in grace, but also to bring him 
out into much larger fields of usefulness, and thus 
prove God's all-sufficient grace. There are heights 
and depths for all of us to reach, which we have 
not yet seen. If we are only true to God, He will 
be pleased in one way or other to bring us into these 
places of further grace and glory. If we have some 
thorn in the flesh, instead of allowing it to trouble 
us and hinder us in the work, let us look to God, as 
Paul did, and if the blessed Lord does not see best 
to remove it, then He certainly will give grace to 
endure it ; and not only to endure, but actually to 
joy and rejoice in the midst of it. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE STATEMENTS OF JOB^S COMFORTERS. 

"Shall mortal man be more just than God? 
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? 

"Behold, He put no trust in His servants; and 
His angels He charged with folly. 

"Hoiv much less in them that dwell in houses of 
clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are 
crushed before the moth!' — Job 4:17*19* 

"What is man that he should be clean? and he 
which is born of a woman, that he should be right- 
eous? 

"Behold, He putteth no trust in His saints; yea, 
the heavens are not clean in His sight. 

"How much more abominable and filthy is man, 
which drinketh iniquity like water?" — Job 15:14- 
16. 

"How then, can man be justified with God? or 
how can he be clean that is born of woman? 

"Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not; 
yea, the stars are not pure in His sight. 

"How much less man, that is a worm? and the 
son of man, that is a worm ?" — Job 25 :4-6. 

One great mistake which many make in reading 
the Bible, especially in the hit-or-miss way of read- 
ing, is, not discerning three things: First, who is 

84 



The Statement of Job's Comforters, 85 

speaking or writing; second, to whom is the per- 
son speaking or writing; third, about what the 
person is speaking or writing. 

In answering these questions in the above quota- 
tions, we have much light thrown upon the sub- 
ject. 

We say we believe the Bible from cover to cover. 
We say that the Bible is the word of God. This is 
true. The Bible is the true word of God. It is a 
true record; an inspired record. Whenever it 
records any circumstance we can rely upon its 
truthfulness, no matter whether it is the record of 
some good deed of a good person, or of a bad deed 
of some bad person; whether it is the record of 
some true statement of a true person, or a false 
statement from a false person. It is a faithful 
record of whatever it undertakes to tell. There 
are some statements in the Bible which are not 
true, because they are made by false people. The 
record of them, however, is true, but it is the record 
of somebody's false assertion. For example, notice 
this statement in I Kings 13:18: "He said unto 
him, I am a prophet also as thou art ; and an angel 
spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, 
Bring him back with thee into thine house, that 
he may eat bread 'and drink water/ 5 Now, was 
this statement of the man true or false? Did an 
angel tell him that or not? If the angel did not 
tell him that, then he lied, and the Bible would be 
giving a true record of an untrue statement. Let 



86 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

us see if the man told the truth. In the very 
next line are these words : "But he lied unto him" 
He made a false statement, but the Bible gives a 
true record of said lie. Thus we see that all asser- 
tions in the Bible may not be true. It depends 
upon where the assertion comes from. Observe, 
then, the importance of keeping in mind the above 
mentioned three points. 

We will now consider the statements in the three 
texts under consideration. The first two we notice, 
by the heading of the chapters, were spoken by 
Eliphaz, the Temanite, and the last by Bildad, the 
Shuhite. These were Job^s comforters. "Miser- 
able comforters are ye all," he adds, in the six- 
teenth chapter and second verse. 

In the first text is the statement that God puts 
no trust in His servants, and charges His angels 
with folly; and then, basing his argument upon 
this premise, he puts Job at tremendous disadvan- 
tage. He confesses that he obtained his informa- 
tion from a spirit in a vision in the night. Evi- 
dently he had not tried the spirit whether it was 
of God (I John 4:1), for the whole tenor of Scrip- 
ture is, that He does put trust in His servants, and 
some day He will say, "Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant/' That He charged His angels 
with folly we have never found in the record, un- 
less it was Satan and his host, but that would be a 
strange structure upon which to base an argument 
against Job, or any one else. 



The Statement of Job's Comforters. 87 

The argument in the second text is, that He put 
no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not 
clean in His sight, sandwiching this in between two 
slurs concerning Job's piety. 

Where Eliphaz got this information he does not 
say; perhaps that same spirit was still instructing 
him. At any rate, we fail to find any in inspiration 
to that effect. We cannot understand how the 
heavens can be unclean, when He made them. Why 
should He make unclean things or places ? Heaven 
is His abode; does He dwell in an unclean place? 
We have always regarded heaven as a holy place. 
Is this not Bible truth? Can anything be holy, 
and yet unclean? Eliphaz, we believe your state- 
ments are far fetched ; they will not stand the test. 

We have the assertion in the third text that the 
moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in 
His sight. 

These are the words of Bildad, the Shuhite. He 
likewise slurs the possibility of man being clean. 
He seems to have copied it from Eliphaz, for the 
language is similar. We do not know where he got 
his information; possibly from the spirit that 
helped Eliphaz out. If he meant that the moon 
could not shine of itself, he was right ; if he meant 
that no light came from the moon, he must have 
been blind. That the stars are not pure, we ques- 
tion his knowledge. God made them, and unless 
they are inhabited by sinners, we cannot under- 
stand how they can be impure. Bildad, our judg- 



88 Wrested Scriptures Made Flain. 

ment is that you are worse "off" than Job, whom 
you are trying to make out such a hard case. 

We would not feel so free to criticise these "com- 
forters" if we did not have positive proof of the 
fact that they were worthy of criticism. 

God said that Job was perfect, which is positive 
proof that he was not a liar ; for a liar is certainly 
not a perfect man. Then, if he is perfect, and not 
a liar, we can well believe his testimony concerning 
these "miserable comforters." 

What is your testimony, Job, concerning these 
men ? Now hear him : "But ye are forgers of lies ; 
ye are all physicians of no value." (Chapter 13 :4.) 
They had been diagnosticating Job's case, and man- 
kind in general, and, according to Job's statement, 
they had proved themselves very poor doctors. Hear 
him again : "How then comfort ye me in vain, see- 
ing in your answers there remaineth falsehood." 
(Chapter 21 :34.) Now, if Job told the truth, then 
certainly they did not at l all times. They were try- 
ing to convince Job that he was not right with God ; 
that his afflictions were a result of his sinfulness, 
and hence they were led evidently to use those ex- 
travagant expressions to sustain their argument. 

But beyond the prima facie evidence of the falsity 
of the statements of these "comforters," and the 
truth of Job's testimony concerning them, we have 
the plain word of God himself. Hear the word of 
the Lord: 

"And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken 
these words unto Job, the Lord said unto Eliphaz 



The Statement of Job's Comforters. 89 

the Tenianite, My wrath is kindled against thee, 
and against thy two friends; for ye have not 
spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant 
Job hath/ 5 (Chapter 42:7.) And 'again: "And 
my servant Job shall pray for yon; for him will I 
accept; lest I deal with you after your folly, in 
that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is 
right, like my servant Job/ 5 (Chapter 42 :8.) Me- 
thinks I see Job erect a mourners 5 bench on the 
spot, so they could literally humble themselves in 
the dust and ashes (where Job had been sitting in 
his afflictions) . Mounting it like an old-time camp- 
meeting exhorter, he calls for penitents, and then 
sings : 

"Come ye sinners, poor and needy/' 

Eliphaz hangs his head; Bildad turns both eyes 
toward the end of his nose ; Zophar looks askance. 
Another verse is sung: 

"If you tarry till you're better, 
You will never come at all/ 5 

This brings them to time, and one after another 
quietly and humbly bows in the ashes at the mourn- 
ers' bench. Job leads in prayer ; hearts are broken ; 
tears of penitence flow; confession and restitution 
are made; God forgives, and so does Job, and the 
"burden rolls away. The smiles of acceptance beam 
out through their tear-bedimmed eyes as they rise 



90 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

to give in their testimonies. Job shouts "Glory to 
God !" shakes their hands, and sings : 

"Hallelujah, 'tis done," etc., 

And exhorts them not to stop, but "go on unto per- 
fection," and not lay again "the foundation of re- 
pentance." 

After bidding them a final farewell, we see them 
leaving for their respective districts, inwardly re- 
solving to get up a district camp-meeting at once, 
and hoping to secure Evangelist Job to conduct the 
services. 

Meanwhile the opening heavens are pouring upon 
Job a blessing he can scarcely contain. This is the 
record: "And the Lord turned the captivity of 
Job, when he prayed for his friends ; also the Lord 
gave Job twice as much as he had before." ( Chap- 
ter 42:10.) 

What flocks of sheep, and herds of oxen, and 
droves of camels and asses ! Sons and daughters 
are born unto him. Fairer daughters are not to be 
found in the land. Job lives an hundred and forty 
years more, and dandles the fourth generation on 
his knees. "So Job died, being old and full of 
years." 

Many people do not understand Job. They are 
apt to take sides with those "comforters" and even 
with Satan. If these people who thus criticise him 
had to undergo the tithe of his suffering in the vari- 



The Statement of Job's Comforters. 91 

ous ways in which he suffered, we fear they would 
not come through as Job said he would: "When 
He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold." 
(Chapter 23:10.) God was putting him through 
deeper experiences than he had ever gone through 
before. Though He said Job was perfect, yet 
there were heights and depths which he had not 
reached ; experiences which he had not yet learned ; 
a knowledge of himself 'which he had hitherto not 
known. All of this was brought about through 
suffering. In a word, he had his holiness perfected 
through suffering. 

So there are in us, after we are sanctified, many 
things to get rid of; things to learn; deeper depths 
to be sounded. There are many things in us which 
are not sinful per se, but are not of God. So God has 
post-purity processses for us in the way of suffer- 
ing in many ways to bring us more and more into 
the matured life of Christian manhood. "Perfect- 
ing holiness in the fear of God" will be our ex- 
perience if we stand and endure. 

"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more 
than the beginning." And thus will He do with 
the sanctified to-day if they will only let Him have 
His way. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THERE IS NONE GOOD BUT ONE. 

"And behold, one came and said unto Him, Good 
Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have 
eternal life? 

"And lie said unto him, Why callest thou me 
good? There is none good but one, that is, God; 
but if thou wilt enter into life, ~keep the command- 
ments/'— Matt. 19:16-17. 

Isolate this text, take it exactly as it reads, and it 
furnishes a good refuge for those who are hunting 
for excuses for not being sanctified. Isolate an- 
other segment of the Word in the fourteenth Psalm, 
and we have the astounding statement, "There is 
no God." It is either suggestive of ignorance or 
maliciousness when one takes an isolated statement 
and teaches from it some doctrine contrary to the 
general tenor of the Scriptures. 

"The Bible, its own commentary/' is certainly a 
suggestion worthy of all our attention. Comparing 
Scripture with Scripture will frequently solve very 
hard spiritual problems and unlock great mysteries. 
Following this course in the present case, we shall 
see the thought that was in the mind of the Savior. 
Do the Scriptures teach goodness as a moral quality 
in any one but God? If they do, then we are shut 

92 



There is None Good bat One. 93 

up to one of two things: either the Bible contra- 
dicts itself, or else the text under consideration does 
not mean what some opposers of holiness claim that 
it means. Let us compare it with some other Bible 
statements : 

"And behold, there was a man named Joseph, a 
counsellor, and he was a good man, and a just." — 
Luke 23 :50. If there were none good but one, how 
then could Joseph be a good man? 

"For he (Barnabas) was a good man, and full of 
the Holy Ghost and of faith."— Acts 11 :24. Where 
is the reconciliation with this text, if only one is 
good? 

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, 
* * * despisers of those that are good." — II 
Tim. 3:2-3. If there were no good people, how 
could any one despise those that are good? Can 
one despise a nonentity ? 

"For a bishop must be * * * a lover of 
hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, 
temperate." — Titus 1:7-8. If there were no such 
a thing as good men, why did God require love for 
such? Would God ask one to love something or 
some persons not existing? 

Perhaps we nave given enough texts to show the 
true teachings of the Scriptures in this regard. 

We come back to our former text and seek for 
reconciliation with these others. "There is none 
good but one, that is, God." We have already writ- 
ten a chapter on "There is none righteous, no, not 



94 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

one/* and have shown that in the natural or unre- 
generate state there is none righteous; and with 
the same method of proof we would see that there 
is none good in his unregenerate state. David in- 
formed us in the fifty-first Psalm that he was 
•shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. He was 
not the exception, but the rule. He has no refer- 
ence to some sin on the part of his mother at that 
time, or that she was counted a bad woman, as some 
suppose, for the declaration is made in another 
place that she was God^s handmaid. He simply 
made use of an expression that shows that de- 
pravity has been rolling down the ages, and every 
one that comes into the world is tainted with it. 
The mighty stream has been coming on since our 
first parents, and neither David found, nor have 
the rest of us found, any exemption from it. We 
were born into this world neither good nor bad. 
The tendency or bias toward sin was in us, but we 
were not sinners. ISTo one is a sinner till he sins. 
An infant cannot sin, for it knows neither good 
nor bad. "Where there is no law there is no trans- 
gression/' Sinfully inclined, but not sinners. 
There are two erroneous ideas prevalent concerning 
the state of an infant — one is that its heart is pure, 
and the other is that it is a sinner. A little thought 
ought to convince any one that neither is correct. 
The manifestations of anger, self-will, pride, jeal- 
ousy, etc., are prima facie evidence that the root 
of sin is in the heart, and this in time will lead it 



There is None Good but One. 95 

into actual sin when the knowledge of sin becomes 
apparent. That it is not a sinner in its infancy we 
know, for God does not hold one guilty where there 
is no capability of knowledge. Sin must meet with 
its proper penalty, unless it is repented of and for- 
given. But if a baby were a sinner it would of 
necessity have to remain such till it could under- 
stand repentance and pardon. Then, if it died be- 
fore that time came, it would necessarily be lost, 
for sinners cannot go to heaven. So, all dying in 
infancy, would have no possibility of being saved. 
Thank God we have better knowledge of the future 
life of our precious babies! 

Man, then, is born into this world without any 
moral quality of goodness. He will continue 
destitute of all goodness as long as he lives, and 
throughout eternity, unless he receives it from Him 
who alone has inherent goodness. God only has 
goodness, as a natural attribute of His being. There 
is no possibility of any one becoming good except 
as he derives it from God. It is beyond the power 
of human attainments, either by resolution or moral 
deeds, to make one's self good. There is none good 
but one, that is, God. When Paul testified to his 
sinful state as a Jew under the law, he said : "For 
I now that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth 
no good thing." — Eom. 7:18. This was not only 
Paul's experience, but that of ali of us in our un- 
regenerate state. The sooner the sinner wakes up 
to the fact that there is nothing in him that meas- 



96 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

ures up to the Scripture standard of goodness, the 
better. The quality of goodness does not exist in 
him, and never will till he gets in union with Christ. 
We may speak in kindly terms of a friend, and say 
that he is a good man, or that he has a good heart, 
but the Word of God will not substantiate the 
statement unless he is a Christian. Goodness can- 
not be found apart from Him who is the Author 
of it. Just as there is, apart from Christ, no holy, 
righteous, Christian man, so there is, apart from 
Him, no good man. 

Again, we may look at this text from another 
standpoint. The experience of perfection is taught 
in the Word, and numerous examples of it are men- 
tioned ; but perfection in the absolute belongs only 
to God. While all should measure up to Christian 
perfection, no one will ever be absolutely perfect. 
So it is with goodness. The way has been provided 
for all to be good, but absolute goodness will never 
be enjoyed by any human being here. Thus, if 
Christ meant there was no one good in the abso- 
lute sense but God, there is no apparent contradic- 
tion or mystery. So, in either sense, if we say there 
is none good in his natural state, or none absolutely 
good even in grace, the statement is harmonious 
with the rest of the Scriptures. 

Some would try to prove that Christ is not divine, 
because He uses the phrase under consideration. 
If there were none good but God, then, according 
to His own statement, some say, He was not God. 



There is None Good bid One. 97 

Properly understood, He no doubt was trying to 
fasten the fact of His divinity upon the mind of 
that young man. The thought evidently is this: 
"You have called me good. God is the One who 
is good. Do you recognize me as divine?" He 
certainly did so recognize Him, or he would not 
have sought Him as the source of eternal life. 

In concluding this chapter, we wonder if any 
who are hiding behind this passage of Scripture, 
as an excuse for not being holy, ever expose their 
inconsistency by referring to another as being a 
good man. Consistency would never use the expres- 
sion in relation to mortal man. 0, for a proper un- 
derstanding and appreciation of the Holy Word ! 




CHAPTER XII. 



OUR VILE BODY. 



"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence 
also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 

"Who shall change our vile tody, that it may he 
fashioned like unto His glorious body, according 
to the working ivhereby He is able even to subdue 
all things unto Himself." — Phil, 8:20-21. 

Some professing Christians seem to have an idea 
that everything connected with them is vile; that 
they are covered with Christ's robe of righteousness 
outwardly, but inwardly everything is vile. Of 
course, to these this statement of Paul is like oil on 
a troubled sea. 

The writer once read of a conversation between 
one of these professedly "vile creatures/' covered 
over with Christ's robe of righteousness, and a 
brother of clearer conceptions of truth. The for- 
mer was asked if he were a Christian, whereupon 
he replied in the affirmative, though adding that he 
was a great sinner, sinning every day in word, 
thought and deed. He was then asked how he 
reconciled this with the Scriptures, quoting some 
passages relating to the mission of Christ on earth; 
what He was able and willing to do. 

"Oh," he replied, "though I am a great sinner, 
98 



Our Vile Body. 99 

yet I have Christ's robe of righteousness, which so 
completely covers me, that when God looks down 
upon me He sees nothing but Christ's robe of right- 
eousness, whiter than snow/* 

"Indeed ! Heaven is a holy place, is it not ?" 

"Yes." 

"And there is nothing unholy that ever gets into 
heaven, is there?'* 

"No." 

"And there is nothing holy about you except 
Christ's robe of righteousness, which covers you?*' 

"Nothing/" 

"Then when you come to die, what will happen? 
Christ's robe will pass through where it belongs, 
and you will pass on through where you belong.*' 

Here we have irresistible logic, the Scripture 
verifying the same: "He which is filthy, let him 
be filthy still; * * * and he that is holy, let 
him be holy still.**— Rev. 22:11. 

"We have in the text under consideration the fol- 
lowing four thoughts: A vile body, the coming of 
the Lord, at which time the vile body will be 
changed, and that it will be fashioned like unto 
Christ's glorious body. 

Many who oppose holiness are bolstering them- 
selves up in the awful delusion that they will have 
to wait until the coming of the Lord or death to 
receive the necessary change which will qualify 
them for heaven. 

Notice that this statement concerns the body 



100 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

only, and not the soul. But the preparation is one 
of soul, and not of the body. When Jesus comes 
the change will be only in the body, and not in the 
soul. Neither death nor Chrises coming will make 
any change in the spiritual nature of man. All 
that change must take place here in this life, and 
that by faith. 

That one who claims that we cannot be purified 
till death inevitably shuts himself up to the old de- 
lusion that depravity, or sin, is located in the physi- 
cal, and not the spiritual, being. Is sin located in 
the corporeal nature? Let us see. Yonder is a 
limb which has just been amputated. The one 
losing it is lying there on the table. Would you 
judge there was any sin in that limb? I think I 
hear the answer, No. But suppose # that both the 
lower and upper limbs had been amputated, and 
the patient was lying there on the operating table. 
Would there be any depravity or inbred sin in those 
limbs? Again I hear, No. But that poor man 
had sin in him before he went on to that operating 
table, and where is it now? Do I hear you say it 
is somewhere outside of his limbs, it must be in 
himself somewhere? But wait a minute. He does 
not rally from the operation, but dies. There is 
the dead body before you. Please tell me if there 
is any sin in it. Does that lifeless body, without 
feeling, thought, will, desire or knowledge have any 
sin in it ? Who would be so foolish as to say, Yes ? 
But a few minutes before, in that same body some- 



Our Vile Body. 101 

where, was sin. Where is it now ? Inbred sin is in 
the heart, in the inner being ,and not in the physi- 
cal. Death makes a change only in the physical. 
It is the separation of the spiritual from the physi- 
cal. If sin is located in the physical, then may we 
hope for purification or separation from sin in 
death ; but it being located not in the physical, but 
in the heart, then nothing in death can effect the 
change. 

Just so in the coming of the Lord. Those that 
are purified and ready for His coming will be 
caught up to meet Him in the air, and those that 
are not purified will not be ready. In this present 
evil world is the place to get ready for the world 
to come. The power of Jesus Christ and the effi- 
cacy of the cleansing blood are sufficient to purify 
us in this life without His need of calling upon 
"our last enemy," death, to come and help Him out. 
Praise the Lord for His all-sufficiency ! 

Let us come back to the word "vile" in its re- 
lation to our body and the coming of the Lord. At 
Christ's coming the mortal will put on immortality, 
and this corruptible will put on incorruption. The 
change, then, as we have before noticed, will be 
physical, and not spiritual. The words "vile body" 
cannot mean a body full of passion, and pride, and 
lust, and wickedness in general, for then one would 
not be prepared at all for the Lord's coming. We 
have the solution of the whole matter in the Ke- 
vised Version, which reads, "the body of our rm- 



102 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

miliation." In this world we find evil on every 
hand. Sickness and sin and death surround us. 
Our bodies are subject to decay. We are frail 
creatures. We occupy a very humble sphere in com- 
parison with that hereafter. So, Paul, considering 
all this, calls it "the body of our humiliation/' and 
has no thought or reference to depravity whatever. 

In view of that great day of days, ought we not 
to be ready? Jesus is surely coming. He is com- 
ing for those who are watching for Him and are 
ready for Him. Heaven's mighty magnet will 
sweep by this way some day, and who will be ready 
to rise? If a powerful magnet were drawn through 
a box of tacks, some of which were steel and some 
brass, the steel ones would adhere to the magnet, 
while the others would be left behind. Why would 
the steel tacks be taken up? Because they are of 
the same nature, and have an affinity with the mag- 
net. Why would not the brass tacks cling to it? 
Because there is no affinity between them and the 
magnet ; and again, there is too much of a com- 
position there. So it is in our relation to Christ. 
When He comes, those that have the divine nature,, 
and have existing between them and Christ the 
necessary affinity, will be drawn to Him and be 
forever with the Lord; while those who have a 
composition of the world, the flesh and the devil, 
and have no affinity with Him, will, of. absolute 
necessity, be left behind. 

Are we ready for His coming? Are we living 



There is None Good but One. 103 

the kind of life we would like to be living when He 
comes ? We should do nothing we would not want 
to be doing when He comes. We should say noth- 
ing that we would not want to be saying when He 
comes. We should go nowhere we would not want 
to be found when He comes. Surely He will come. 
The inevitable is before us. What shall we do? 
We should draw the lines just as close in our daily 
living as we would if we knew He was coming this 
moment. Dear reader, if you knew He was at the 
door, would you be ready with your present ex- 
perience, without any further preparation? Or 
would you feel like begging Him to delay long 
enough for you to get ready? In an hour when 
you think not the Son of Man will come. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

I DIE DAILY. 

I Cor. 15:81. 

How often have we heard those who believe in a 
gradual process of sanctification quote this text to 
prove their argument! They do not believe that 
one may become dead indeed unto sin as a finality, 
and thus have carnality killed. But, on the con- 
trary, they think they must die more and more 
unto sin until finally the "least and last remains 
of sin," by a process of daily dying, have become 
exterminated, just when they come to "shuffle off 
this mortal coil." We have known others, who are 
in the experience of holiness, quote this text to 
prove further processses of dying out after one is 
sanctified. We do not assume that there are not 
deeper experiences after we are sanctified, for we 
believe there are blessed post-purity processes in 
which we are further crucified or tested, and thus 
are enabled to go down deeper into the deep things 
of God than we at first comprehended in our sanc- 
tiflcation. There are things that we did not see 
when we first died out and consecrated our all to 
God, although we subscribed to the whole will of 
God, and gave Him all we knew, and all we did not 
know. He did not flash all the light on our souls 

104 



I Die Daily. 105 

at once, for He knew just how much we could stand. 
Later on, when He saw that we could bear it, test- 
ings of a deeper nature came, which put us deeper 
into the life hid with Christ in God. Paul helped 
to fill up the measure of Christ's sufferings. He 
went through awful crucifixions and deaths, as it 
were, in different kinds of sufferings, after his puri- 
fication ; but in no sense was it a dying out to sin, 
nor did it touch carnality, for that question had 
previously been settled in the baptism with the 
Holy Ghost. We do not teach that when one gets 
sanctified, he is to sail to heaven on "flowery beds 
of ease." The "way of holiness" is not always 
strewn with roses, even though it be crowned with 
victory. Victory implies a battle fought and won. 
In the great work of salvation and growth in grace, 
God has very wisely ordered a course of drill and 
suffering which may consist of many things, in 
order to further and perfect the work already be- 
gun. But the God of all grace, "who hath called 
us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after 
that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, 
stablish, strengthen, settle you." — I Pet. 5:10. 
Deeper deaths do not imply a failure in the former 
one, or its insufficiency. It was all that God re- 
quired and that could be done. It accomplished 
the work intended for it to accomplish. It resulted 
in the death of the "old man." But God wants us 
to grow in grace. He wants us to become stronger 
Christians. He proposes so to help us that the 



106 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

gates of hell shall not prevail against us. One way 
of accomplishing this needed growth is by processes 
of suffering and by revelations of our own further 
needs. We shall see things in ourselves that are not 
sinful, yet they are not the fruit of the Spirit. We 
die out to these, and more and more come under 
the direct control of the Spirit. Thank God for 
the grace that enables one to face the light as it 
comes, and stand all the suffering and bear all the 
trials subsequent to his purification. The one who 
thinks that sanctification is the point which pre- 
cludes further growth in grace, and thus settles 
down, will soon find, to his regret, that he has made 
the mistake of his life. 

While all of these further processes mentioned 
are true, yet nowhere do we find that the Scriptures 
teach a daily dying in order to get sanctified. 
Neither do they teach, that after one is sanctified, 
there is any further dying out to carnality. And 
especially does the text, "I die daily," have no 
reference to either thought. Then, what does Paul 
mean by the expression ? We fall back on the com- 
mon method and study the context. It means some- 
thing, to be sure, and something that was daily oc- 
curing in the life of Paul. Let us notice the verse 
before and the one following : 

"And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 

"I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in 
Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 

"If, after the manner of men, I have fought 



I Die Daily. 107 

with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if 
the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink; for to- 
morrow we die." 

Thus we have it clearly set forth. Paul is stat- 
ing that his life is in jeopardy every day and every 
hour. He does not know what moment he may 
be thrown in with wild beasts and be compelled to 
fight for his life. It would seem from the state- 
ments here that he actually had such a combat. 
He does not know at what moment some howling 
mob may pounce upon him and stone him to death. 
We know that he did have such an experience, for 
they stoned him to death, as they supposed, and 
dragged him out of the city. But God raised him 
up. Thus, we see, that instead of referring to a 
gradual process of purification by daily dying, or 
even further dying out subsequent to purification, 
he is simply calling attention to the fact of facing 
literal death daily. His physical life was in con- 
stant jeopardy. So the statement is one concerning 
physical death, and not of spiritual experience. 

Header, if you have not yet died out to sin, and 
had the old man crucified, do so at once. Go 
through the crucifixion now. Go on the cross, and 
let the nails be driven till carnality dies, so that 
there may come into your soul that blessed resur- 
rection, "life more abundant." And if you are called 
to go down deeper, do not shrink nor waver, but con- 
stantly yield to the whole will of God, and let Him 
put you through any process He sees best. Thus,. 



108 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

you will find yourself keeping ^aved, growing in 
grace, and becoming more and more rooted and 
grounded in Him. If, perchance, the persecutions 
of this world should reach the high-water mark of 
physical martyrdom, may we look to the God of 
Paul, who always caused him to triumph in Christ 
Jesus, Who gave him grace to say, as he faced the 
axman's block, "For I am now ready to be offered, 
and the time of my departure is at hand. I have 
fought a good fight; I have finished my course; 
I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; 
and not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
His appearing." 




CHAPTER XIV. 

BE YE ANGRY AXD SIX XOT. 

Eph. Jf-:£6. 

How comforting this text is to some people ! How 
soothing to those who have occasional spells of 
"righteous indignation*' ! How the devil helps 
them out in believing that their fit of anger was 
only righteous indignation, or nervousness, or weak- 
ness of the flesh, and so he whispers to them that 
they can be angry and sin not ; that if they do have 
these spells, it is not sin, providing they always get 
over it before night, and never let the sun go down 
upon their wrath. what a perversion of the Word 
of God! What a disappointment to the loving 
heart of Jesus when He wants to cleanse our hearts 
and save us from all our bad tempers, for us to 
bolster ourselves up under a delusion of the devil 
and perverted Scripture, and frequently give way 
to fits of temper, and then persuade ourselves that 
it is justifiable, righteous indignation ! 

We are well aware of the fact that we are flying 
in the face of the common opinion of Christians 
when we say that the text means just the opposite 
of what is generally supposed. We remember hear- 
ing one ask a minister what the text meant, where- 
upon he answered : "It is not the kind that beats 

109 



110 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

the horse." We had often wondered what it really 
meant, and one day, when out alone in secret with 
the Lord, we came to this peculiar and generally 
misunderstood text, and, looking up to God, asked 
Him to reveal the real meaning. Scarcely was the 
prayer made when there was flashed upon our mind, 
as a light from above, this thought : "It means, be 
not ye angry, lest ye commit sin." This was just the 
opposite of what we had previously heard, so we 
concluded that at the first opportunity we would 
consult a commentary. On opening Clarke's Com- 
mentary we found that he had the same thought, 
which reads: "Perhaps the sense is: Take heed 
that ye be not angry, lest ye sin; for it would be 
very difficult even for an apostle himself to be angry 
and not sin." 

One great trouble with professing Christians is, 
they look upon sin with too great a degree of allow- 
ance; they do not consider it an awful thing to do 
wrong. To sin just a little does not, to them, 
amount to very much. They seem to work on the 
principle that they may sin a little through the day, 
and when night comes they can pray and get for- 
giveness of all at once. Eight here is where one 
begins to backslide. He may succeed in getting 
the day's sin cleared one night, and the next, and 
possibly the next, but if he is not careful he will 
be too tired and sleepy some night, and will not 
pray through and get a clear sky. He may even, 
after this, get things cleared up, but the tendency 



Be Ye Angry and Sin Not 111 

will be to get careless, and perhaps let the praying 
go over till the next night; and the first thing he 
knows he will have a clouded sky right along, and 
will be losing his temper, murmuring, neglecting 
duty and other things, without any particular com- 
punction of conscious. Thus, he has drifted into 
a backslidden state almost before he knows it, be- 
cause he regarded it a light thing to do wrong. 

No, brother, do not get angry ; there is sin along 
that road; the trail of the serpent is in that path. 

It is true that Christ was angry with a righteous 
indignation, which is explained by the expression 
"being grieved." But His anger was not the up- 
rising of unholy emotions, or fretful passions, or 
carnal propensities, but because His great loving 
heart was grieved ; and if we have the same feelings 
in our hearts we shall be justified in them. But 
that the text does not mean something in which we 
are justified, it adds a few lines below: "Let all 
anger be put away from you." This looks very 
much like a contradiction, if the other means that 
we are to get angry. The strange part of it is, that 
many claim they have a right to get angry, but they 
must be sure and get over it before sundown, and 
not let the sun go down upon their wrath. Xow, 
if it is a good thing to get angry, and we are com- 
manded to do thus, why would it be so awful to 
continue past sundown ? Xo ; the proper meaning 
evidently is, "Be not ye angry and commit sin;" 
or, in other words, "'Be ye angry and sin, not; 3 put- 



112 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

ting the emphasis on the last word "not," thus mak- 
ing it a prohibition against anger, instead of a 
license for the same, or a command. If, in the per- 
plexities of one's environment, he should find him- 
self overtaken with anger, he should overcome it 
at once, and not let the sun go down upon his 
wrath, thus using the words "wrath" and "anger" 
interchangeably. Christ proposes not only to en- 
able one to keep in subjection a bad temper, but to 
eliminate it from the heart. Christ enthroned 
within will keep the heart in blessed equipoise in 
the annoying things of life, so that anger will not 
only fail to come to the surface, but will actually 
not exist. Blessed emancipation ! Wonderful vic- 
tory ! Glorious experience ! Who would not have 
it? for the gentle Spirit of Jesus, that will en- 
able us to suffer long, and yet be kind ! 




CHAPTEE XV. 



FORGIVE US OUR SINS. 



"And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive 
every one that is indebted to us." — Luke 11:^. 

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our 
debtors/'— Matt 6:12. 

Here we find, in the prayer which the Lord 
taught His disciples, a plea for pardon. Luke has 
it a prayer for the pardon of sins, while Matthew 
has it a prayer for the pardon of debts. To-day we 
frequently hear it, "forgive us our trepasses," which 
does not occur in any of the Gospels, although in 
Matthew it says, "But if ye forgive not men their 
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your 
trespasses." 

It has often been thrown at the professors of holi- 
ness that they have got beyond the Lord's Prayer. 
Also, it would seem to furnish a kind of refuge for 
those who believe that we cannot live above sin ; for, 
if Christ taught His disciples to pray, "forgive us 
our sins," it would imply, as they suppose, that He 
expected them to sin every day, or there would be 
no need of the petition. 

Speaking of the Lord's Prayer, we would say 
that no one is spiritually qualified to pray it unless 
he is sanctified or is seeking the grace. The first 

113 



114 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

two petitions of the prayer say, "Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done." How much of His will 
does that mean ? "What is His will ? A part of it is 
this : "This is the will of G-od, even your sanctiflca- 
tion." — I Thess. 4:3. To pray for the Lord's will 
to be done, and then to reject sanctiflcation, would 
certainly disqualify one for praying the Lord's 
Prayer. 

But here is the petition for pardon in the prayer : 
In one place it says "sins/' and in the other "debts." 
Of course, we understand that it does not mean the 
debts of a business nature, which are sometimes 
contracted between different parties. We should 
not -expect to be forgiven them, but, like any honest 
person, go and pay them. It would seem that 
the words "sins" and "debts" are used here inter- 
changeably. In the old order of things, there was 
instituted a Year of Jubilee. In that year, among 
the many blessings which came to those in trouble, 
was the cancellation of all debt. This certainly 
was hailed with much delight by those who were 
thus embarrassed. It did not work any hardship on 
the creditors, for when the obligations were made 
it was with the understanding that they were to be 
cancelled at the Year of Jubilee. Isaiah took up 
that year, with its many material blessings, and, in 
the sixty-first chapter, threw it into spiritual 
prophecy. Thus, as he looked down through the 
vista of time, he saw a day coming which was the 
great antitype of the -old Year of Jubilee. The 



Forgive Us Our Sins. 115 

earthly blessings which came with that year, Isaiah 
saw were to be spiritualized. What they enjoyed 
in a material sense, the coming generations were 
to enjoy in a spiritual sense. Let us see when it 
was fulfilled. In the fourth chapter of Luke it is 
recorded that Jesus went into a synagogue and 
opened to this very chapter of Isaiah and read, 
among other things, concerning this Year of Jubi- 
lee. When He had finished, He said : "This day is 
this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." So, we see 
that Jesus brought in the great spiritual benefits, 
while the ancient Jews knew more particularly of 
the material. They forgave debts of a literal char- 
acter; Jesus forgives debts of a spiritual nature. 
By coming unto Him, He will wipe them all out, 
to remember them no more against us forever. Debt 
places one under obligation to another. Every 
•actual known sin, every mistake, indeed everything 
that will not measure up to the standard of abso- 
lutely perfect conduct, is reckoned as debt on our 
part towards God. Failure in any way to meet 
the perfect law of God and His will toward us 
throws us just so much in debt. It matters not 
whether it be intentional, or is done in utter ignor- 
ance of His will, the debt is made just the same. 
But God has made a difference in His own esti- 
mate of sin on our part ; between known sin and a 
sin of ignorance. His own great heart of love 
would make this not only possible, but really neces- 
sary. So, in the Old Testament, we learn of the 



116 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

known sin, which had to be dealt with in a certain 
way, and also of sins of ignorance, which were an- 
swered for in another manner. There is not a per- 
son under the blaze of Gospel light who cannot re- 
ceive an experience of salvation from actual, known 
sin, so that he can say : 

"I rise to walk in heaven's own light, 
Above the world and sin; 
With heart made pure and garments white, 
And Christ enthroned within/' 

And there is not a Christian, even in the very 
highest experience, but will make mistakes and 
blunders, and commit w T hat the Old Testament calls 
sins of ignorance. A known sin will bring the one 
who commits it under condemnation and guilt. 
Before he ever is free from its effects he will have 
to pray, "Forgive us our sins," or, more specifically, 
"my sins." And as every mistake puts one under 
so much obligation to God, yet without that sense 
of condemnation and guilt that known sin brings,, 
he will need to pray likewise, "Forgive us our 
debts." It would be well in this sense to pray the 
prayer daily. But to say that cur Lord expected 
us to commit known sin daily, and that the prayer 
was intended for a petition in such cases, would 
show on the very face of it that Christ admitted 
that He was not sufficient to save unto the utter- 
most; that His atonement did not reach far 



Forgive Us^ Oar Sins. 117 

enough; that there was a power which was stronger 
than His in the world. But thank God this is not 
the case. "Greater is He that is in you, than he 
that is in the world/' How thankful we ought to 
be that God has provided a way back to Himself, if 
we are overtaken in sin, and have severed our con- 
nection with Him ! On the other hand, we should 
likewise be thankful that He has provided a way so 
that we are not set adrift for every mistake we 
make; but that we may pray the prayer before us, 
and know that He who gave us the prayer will an- 
swer it. 

More particularly is it expected, that in this 
blessed Holy Ghost dispensation, with the Com- 
forter abiding within, we shall have additional ad- 
vantages over any of those prior to the day of Pen- 
tecost. Christ gave the disciples that prayer before 
they had received the baptism with the Holy Ghost. 
After He came and took up His abode in them, they 
seemed to be different people. No doubt there was 
need of frequent return to that prayer, with broken 
and contrite hearts for forgiveness, before they re- 
ceived the "power from on high/' but with the 
grace cf full salvation and the mighty power of 
Pentecost in their hearts, we know that their walk 
w r as on lines far different from what it was before. 
Perhaps it might be well to call attention more 
carefully to this fact. We will take a look at these 
disciples before and after Pentecost. 



118 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

I. BEFORE PENTECOST. 

1. Unbelief and hardness of heart. "Afterward 
He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, 
and upbraided them with their unbelief and hard- 
ness of heart, because they believed not them which 
had seen Him after He was risen." — Mark 16:14. 
They had the root of the matter in them. The car- 
nal mind had not yet been destroyed, and so they 
had that element to contend with, which at this time 
manifested itself in unbelief and hardness of heart. 

2. Unholy aspirations. "And James and John, 
the sons of Zebedee, came unto Him, saying, Mas- 
ter, we would that Thou shouldest do for us what- 
soever we shall desire. 

"And He said unto them, What would ye that I 
should do for you? 

"They said unto Him, Grant unto us that we 
may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on 
Thy left hand, in Thy glory. 

"But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what 
ye ask."— Mark 10:35-37. 

Here we have carnality manifested in another 
form. Ambition to be somebody. Some are trou- 
bled in this way nowadays. The remedy for this 
disease is to take a trip to the "upper room," and to 
wait there till the holy fire falls and consumes in- 
bred sin. 

3. A spirit of revenge. "And they did not re- 
ceive Him, because His face was as though He 
would go to Jerusalem. 



Forgive Us Oar Sins. 119 

"And when His disciples, James and John, saw 
this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command 
fire to come down from heaven and consume them, 
even as Elias did? 

"But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, 
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 

"For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's 
lives, but to save them." — Luke 9:53-56. 

This is another manifestation of this carnal Ve- 
suvius, which lies in every unsanctifled believer, and 
is ready with any provocation to burst out with its 
unholy lava and actually spoil the vantage ground 
one has gained since the last reckoning up time. 

4. Desire for popularity. "And He came to 
Capernaum; and being in the house, He asked 
them, What was it that ye disputed among your- 
selves by the way? 

"But they held their peace ; for by the way they 
had disputed among themselves, who should be the 
greatest."— Mark 9 :33-34, 

As long as the "old man" is in the house there is 
no telling how and when he may raise a fuss. The 
idea of the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus 
striving and contending about human greatness ! 
Yet carnality assumes some strange forms. 

5. Bigotry. "Then Peter took Him, and began 
to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord ; 
this shall not be unto Thee. 

"But He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee 
behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me; 



120 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but 
those that be of men/'— Matt. 16:22-23. 

Christ did not want to be defended, and especial- 
ly not with human strength and weapons. Peter 
evidently thought he could successfully protect the 
Savior. The big perpendicular pronoun clamors 
for recognition if the "old man" is allowed to re- 
main inside. 

6. Doubt. "Except I shall see in His hands the 
print of the nails, and put my finger into the print 
of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I 
will not believe. * * * 

"Then saith He to Thomas, Eeach hither thy 
finger, and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy 
hand, and thrust it into my side ; and be not faith- 
less, but believing."— John 20 :25, 27. 

Probably one of the worst troubles an unsancti- 
fied believer has with his heart is a tendency to un- 
belief. This awful thing is the blighting curse of 
the world to-day. The great remedy is a clean 
heart, full of pure love. 

7. Self-confidence. "Peter answered and said 
unto Him, Though all men shall be offended be- 
cause of Thee, yet will I never be offended. 

"Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt 
deny me thrice. 

"Peter said unto Him, Though I should die with 
Thee, yet I will not deny Thee. Likewise also said 
all the disciples."— Matt. 26:33-35. 



Forgive Us Our Shis. 121 

We all know how sadly they failed in this. Self- 
confidence is one of the evidences of the presence 
of the "old man." 

8. Human dependence. "Then Simon Peter, 
having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's 
servant, and cut off his right ear." — John 18 :10. 

As long as carnality is in the heart it will seek 
to depend on the human instead of the divine. We 
never hear of Peter cutting off ears after Pentecost. 
He used another kind of sword for another purpose. 

9. Fear. "Then all the disciples forsook Him, 
and fled."— Matt. 26:56. 

This was the result of the inbeing of sin. Had 
they been filled with the Spirit they would never 
have forsaken Him and fled. Through fear, Peter 
even went so far as to backslide and deny the Mas- 
ter and curse and swear. But the Lord had mercy. 
and broke his heart and brought him back. 

But we must do justice to these disciples. Some 
declare that they were not converted till the day of 
Pentecost. The writer was once stopped in the 
midst of his sermon by a Doctor of Divinity, de- 
claring that he did not believe the disciples were 
converted till Pentecost, To take the ground that 
they were not converted till the day of Pentecost, 
is to fly in the face of Christ's own words concern- 
ing them. Let us see a few plain evidences that 
they were converted before the day of Pentecost : 

1. They belonged to Christ. "Thine they were, 
and Thou gavest them me." — John 17:6. 



122 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

2. They kept God's word. "They have kept 
Thy word. "— John 17:6. 

3. They believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
"They have believed that Thou didst send Me." — 
John 17:8. 

4. None of them were lost except Judas. 
"While I was with them in the world, I kept them 
in Thy name; those that Thou gavest me have I 
kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of per- 
dition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled." — 
John 17:12. If one is not lost, then he must be 
saved, for Jesus "came to seek and to save that 
which was lost." 

5. They were not of the world; had come out 
from it and suffered persecution for it. "The world 
hath hated them, because they are not of the world, 
even as I am not of the world." — John 17:14. 
What a blessed thing it would be in these days if all 
who profess to be followers of the meek and lowly 
Jesus would so come out from the world, that the 
world would recognize the fact, and thus form a 
clear line of demarkation ! 

All of these clear evidences Jesus mentioned to 
the Father in His prayer for the disciples, and im- 
mediately prayed, "Sanctify them through Thy 
truth; Thy word is truth."— John 17:17. Show- 
ing conclusively that sanctiflcation is subsequent 
to a clear case of justification. 

Not only did they possess the evidences men- 
tioned in Jesus' prayer, but we notice also that 



Forgive Us Our Sins. 123 

6. They had left all and had become followers 
of Jesus. "Then Peter said. Lo, we have left all, 
and followed Thee/'— Luke 18:28. 

7. They had marvelous power to cast out devils 
and head the sick. "And when He had called unto 
Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power 
against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to 
heal all manner of sickness and all manner of dis- 
ease. 

•'And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand. 

"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, 
cast out devils; freely ye have received, freely 
give/' — Matt. 10 :1, ?, 8. 

Suppose that one who manifests the spirit of a 
humble Christian to-day should be found doing 
such work, would not people think him a genuine 
Christian ? 

8. Their names were written in heaven. "Re- 
joice, because your names are written in heaven." — 
Luke 10:20. It is true that this had reference to 
the seventy that Christ sent out, but who would 
suppose that they had their names written in heaven 
and the disciples had not ? 

When we look at these disciples from the carnal 
side of their experience, and see sometimes the un- 
belief and hardness of heart, unholy aspirations, a 
spirit of revenge, desire for popularity, bigotry, 
doubt, self-confidence, human dependence and fear; 
when we see these things cropping out in them, we 



124 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

are constrained to cry out that they did not have 
any part or lot in the blessing of salvation. If that 
be the case, then the prayer, "Forgive us our sins," 
would certainly be very appropriate. On the other 
hand, when we look at the grace side of their lives 
apart from the carnal, and see that they belonged 
to Christ, kept His word, believed on Him, were 
not lost, were not of the world, were persecuted 
for righteousness' sake, had left all and were fol- 
lowing Jesus, had such marvelous power, and that 
their names were written in heaven; when we see 
these characteristics, we are constrained to say that 
they were perfect. We wonder if the preachers who 
claim that these were not converted till Pentecost 
would refuse any one the privilege of church 
membership who had as good, but no better, ex- 
perience than these ? Or, should one of their mem- 
bers, with a like experience, die, would they not 
preach him into heaven? 

The fact of the matter is, these disciples were 
very much like justified people to-day — there was 
a carnal side and a spiritual side in their experi- 
ence. Sometimes they had the victory, and some- 
times they did not. Sometimes they were up, and 
sometimes they were down. It was a sort of in and 
out, to and fro, time with them. It was a case of 
sinning and repenting. It was not all sinning, nor 
all repenting, but occasionally the "old man," which 
remained in the heart of these, as well as the "old 
man" which remains to-day in the heart of all 



Forgive Us Our Sins. 125 

Christians after regeneration, would spring np and 
cause them trouble. But look at them after the 
prayer of Jesus for their sanctification was answered 
on the day of Pentecost. What a change has come 
over them and in them ! The fire of the Holy 
Ghost has burned out inbred sin and purified their 
hearts. Now it is victory all the time. Instead of 
unbelief and hardness of heart, their hearts are 
melted down in the crucible of God's love and filled 
with the simple faith of Christ. Instead of unholy 
aspirations, and wanting pre-eminence and popu- 
larity, they are willing to take the lowest places. 
They are willing to be counted as the filth and off- 
scouring of the world ; they are willing to be ban- 
ished and scourged and put in prison; anywhere 
with Jesus and anything for Jesus. Instead of 
wanting literal fire to come down and consume their 
adversaries, they would have the fire of the Holy 
Ghost come down and consume sin out of their 
hearts. Instead of the sword of steel to cut off the 
ear, Peter uses the sword of the Spirit and cuts into 
the heart. Instead of bigotry, and self-confidence, 
and human dependence, they have learned that they 
can accomplish nothing apart from Christ; that 
only in Him can they hope to succeed, and that in 
and of themselves they are nothing. Instead of all 
forsaking Him and fleeing away, they stand like 
pillars in the temple ; they are ready to live or to 
die for Jesus ; the prison is not too dark for them ; 
the ultimatum of the Sanhedrin does not affright 



126 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

them; the blazing fagot only puts more fire into 
their souls; the glittering sword has lost its pierc- 
ing terror; Patmos' lonely mount only brings the 
heavenly hallelujahs the nearer. Amidst howling 
mobs, and whirling brickbats, and ecclesiastical de- 
nunciations, and living deaths, the still small voice 
of Jesus is heard cheering them on the way. In 
the darkness of inner prisons the face of Jesus is 
seen smiling with approbation upon them. They 
are so filled with the divine presence, and so utterly 
abandoned to the Holy Ghost, that it makes no 
difference with them when they are killed or how 
they are killed. Instead of Peter denying his Lord, 
he constantly witnesses to His name; instead of 
cursing, he is found praising and shouting the con- 
stant victories of his Christ. Such was the power 
of Pentecost. that to-day those who are oppos- 
ing the full salvation of God, and bickering and 
caviling over holiness, would seek their Pentecost! 
Their hearts would rejoice, the church would put 
on new strength, and the world would be made bet- 
ter by their living in it. To your knees, ye critics, 
and pray, "Forgive us our sins." 



CHAPTER XVI. 



I KEEP UXDER MY BODY. 



"But I keep under my body, and bring it into 
subjection, lest that by any means, when I have 
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway'' 
—I Cor. 9:27. 

This is a great resort for holiness opposers. They 
summer and winter at this place. The harbor is 
full of them. They never get beyond Paul. no ! 
If he had to contend with the carnal mind, then 
they may not hope to be freed from the same in this 
life. Rather discouraging outlook, if this text 
means depravity in the heart. 

We raise the question, What does Paul mean by 
keeping under his body and bringing it into sub- 
jection? Perhaps the Revised Version would throw 
a little light upon the subject. "But I buffet my 
body, and bring it into bondage/' Does he have 
reference to the "old man/' or simply the physical 
man? He certainly alludes to one or the other. 
One way, and a very good way, to find out the 
thought of a text is, to compare Scripture with 
Scripture. Let us try the plan here. Whatever 
Paul had reference to, he kept it under. Paul was 
on top. It seems that it required some attention, 

127 



128 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

some effort to accomplish this, but he succeeded all 
\ight, and was an overcomer in the affair. 

He tells us in Rom 6 :6, "Knowing this, that our 
old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin 
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not 
serve sin/' Strange that he should be putting forth 
an effort to keep under something that was already 
crucified and destroyed. If the "old man" was 
crucified (death follows crucifixion), hence, dead, 
why should he need to "buffet" it, as the Eevised 
Version has if? The idea of buffeting a poor corpse 
that could not lift its little finger to strike ! Paul 
putting forth an effort to keep on top of such a 
thing, crucified and put off, lest it should get him 
under ! The idea is preposterous. 

Again he says he brings it into subjection. It 
would appear from this that it minded him; that 
he was master in the affair. Is this the way the 
"carnal mind" acts? Hear Paul on that: "The 
carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not 
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." — 
Rom. 8:7. This evil principle within is not some- 
thing that is subjugated. If it would not mind the 
law of God, I reckon it would not mind the law of 
Paul. You can buffet it, sit on it, stand on it, and 
tell it to behave itself, and it will not mind. When 
you think you have it suppressed, it will suddenly 
arise and claim authority over the possessions. You 
may order it to leave the premises, but it claims 
to have been on hand as early as anybody, and "pos- 



I Keep Under My Body. 129 

session is nine points of the law." You may think 
sometimes that yon have made it quiet, but it is only 
"playing 'possum" on you, and will poke up its head 
when you are sufficiently off guard. It can stand 
a good deal of mistreatment if it is only allowed to 
remain in the house. It is very fond of some things, 
such as flattery, and style, and worldly amusements. 
It likes the cold. Dead, cold formality is its de- 
light. It is much afraid of fire. All sorts of ways 
and means have been used to manage it. It has 
been repressed, suppressed, depressed, compressed, 
but the only sure way is to express it. 

As long as it is in the house there will be trouble. 
We are told to "make not provision for the flesh." 
The best Christian life does not come from the sub- 
jugation of this element of the soul. God has pro- 
vided something better than keeping it under. The 
atonement of Christ is sufficient not only to neu- 
tralize it, but utterly to exterminate it. (Let me 
say right here, by way of explanation, that this sin 
element is not a substance, but a condition. ) There 
is a great deal of so-called holiness these days, which 
allows the "old man" to remain in the home. The 
Holy Spirit is emphasized a great deal, and the 
Christ life beautifully portrayed, but carnality is 
not properly dealt with. Now, as long as this "old 
man" is allowed to remain, he will put up with a 
good deal of inconvenience; but when the fire of 
the Holy Ghost is turned on he has to get out. We 
may talk about the Spirit-filled life and the Com- 



130 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

forter abiding within, but the fact is, He will not 
come to occupy a temple wherein He cannot have 
supreme rule. Our bodies are to be the temples of 
the Holy Ghost, and if this experience is ever en- 
joyed, then will the recipient have to submit to the 
process of sin-eradication. We should give God 
credit for wisdom in His dealings. In this case 
He would act somewhat like a dentist. I go to a 
dentist, and tell him I have a tooth for which I 
am concerned. There is a decayed spot in it, and 
I am afraid that I shall lose the tooth. I ask the 
doctor if he can fill the tooth with gold, and thus 
preserve it. Upon examination he assures me that 
there is no reason why I should lose the tooth ; that 
he can fill it, and thus it will be preserved. T sub- 
mit to the process of filling. The dentist begins to 
apply his drill, and in a little while it reaches the 
quick, and I throw up my hands, crying, "0 dent- 
ist, I didn't ask you to take my head off! I only 
asked you to fill my tooth I" He smiles and says, 
"This is the way I do it. I am preparing the tooth 
for the filling. If I should place the gold on top 
of that decayed part it would not remain there nor 
preserve the tooth/' 

"But it hurts so !" 

"Yes, I know it hurts, but it will pay you to 
endure the pain for a little while, for the benefit 
you will receive in the filling." 

So it is in the filling with the Holy Spirit. It 
is no child's play to get the Holy Ghost. We need 



I Keep Under, My Body. 131 

Him to fill our souls and preserve our Christian 
experience. He assures us that He will do this for 
us if we will submit to the process. It means some- 
thing more than just to sit down and quietly say, 
"Fill me now/' Before the Holy Spirit will come 
to occupy a heart, He must have it in a state of 
entire abandonment to Himself ; a full consecra- 
tion to Him ; crucified indeed unto the world. This 
is suffering the loss of all things ; the dying out to 
everything but God. The nails are driven, and it 
hurts. Many come down from the cross and save 
themselves from the crucifixion, only to suffer the 
greater agony of a guilty conscience and failure of 
full salvation. It hurts for awhile in the cruci- 
fixion, the preparation for the reception of the Holy 
Ghost, but it pays to endure the suffering for a little 
season in making the entire consecration, for the 
joy of being filled with the Spirit. This entire 
abandonment to God is absolutely necessary as a 
requisite to 'holiness. Is the question asked, Why 
does God so require? For several reasons. 

First, He wants people whom He can trust. He 
knows that when one has gone through the cruci- 
fixion which precedes the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
and has "suffered the loss of all things/' He can 
trust that soul. 

Second, He wants people who will appreciate the 
gift. Something received without any effort put 
forth is not appreciated as that is which costs some- 
thing. The young man that falls heir to a large 



132 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

inheritance is quite likely to underestimate its 
worth, and if not careful will easily let it slip from 
him. But that person who has toiled for the for- 
tune he has accumulated will recognize its value > 
and will be frugal in its use. So, if the Holy Spirit 
could be received without any consecration or effort 
on our part, He would not be properly appreciated, 
and would probably be found wanting in the soul 
under extreme pressure. We would not magnify 
self-effort, or be understood to say that this blessing 
comes by works, or that the Holy Spirit would not 
come by asking Him to do so; but we do mean 
that it becomes absolutely necessary to make such 
a complete consecration, in order to get into a place 
where one can believe for the baptism with the Holy 
Ghost. Consecration clears away the rubbish, so 
faith can have a chance to make connection. 

Third, when one has gone through the ordeal of 
this crucifixion in order to receive Him, he will be 
more apt to retain the experience, feeling that he 
would not like to go through that suffering again. 

Fourth, the spiritual law of impenetrability ob- 
tains here : no two bodies can occupy the same space 
at one and the same time. The Holy Spirit will not 
occupy the heart in which the "old man" lives. He 
must be crucified and cast out. The full and com- 
plete abandonment of the soul puts one where this 
can be done, and the Holy Spirit will have no rival 
in the heart. 

Thus, we see the theory, that one may have the 



I Keep Under My Body. 133 

gift of the Holy Spirit, and at the same time have 
carnality in the heart, is a snare of the devil, and is 
deceiving many good people. 

We come back to the thought of Paul keeping 
his body under. What did he mean? He meant 
just what he said — he kept his body under. It 
was not the body of sin, for that was destroyed 
(Eom. 6:6) ; but the corporeal body, with its nat- 
ural passions, desires and members. Man is a 
trinity in himself — tripartite. He has a spirit, 
soul and body. Paul uses the expression, "And I 
pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be 
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord 
Jesus Christ/' (I Thess. 5:23.) Notice that this 
follows that remarkable sentence, "And the very 
God of peace sanctify you wholly." From this we 
see plainly that we are first to be sanctified wholly, 
and then have our spirit, soul and body preserved 
blameless. This blamelessness is to follow the 
experience of entire sanctification. Three things 
are to be preserved blameless : spirit, soul and body. 
We further see that one may not be blameless in 
his spirit, or his soul, or his body. Outside the 
saving grace of God, one's spirit nature, his soul 
nature, and his physical nature are defiled. Paul 
made that plain in his letter to the Corinthians: 
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved 
(not sinners), let us cleanse ourselves from all 
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holi- 
ness in the fear of God." (ITCor. 7:1.) There 



134 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

are certain attributes which belong to the spirit, 
others to the soul, and yet others to the body; at- 
tributes which are not wrong, but pure and good, 
so long as kept in their proper place; so long as 
they simply perform what they were created to 
perform. When they are allowed to step outside 
their bounds they become corrupted. Paul, in say- 
ing that he kept under his body, had no reference 
to either his spirit or psychic nature (which, of 
course, were in their proper sphere), but simply 
to the physical. The physical nature, with all its 
attributes, he was holding the master}^ over. If he 
did not they would soon be over the banks, and he 
would be subject to his own passions. He would 
be under, and his physical appetites would have 
the mastery over him. As it is said, the body 
makes a good servant, but a hard master. 

There are attributes which belong only to the 
body; among these are the desire for food, drink, 
sleep and sexual commerce. All these are proper. 
They are in every normal body. There is some- 
thing physically wrong where any one of these is 
wanting. They are God-given, and so long as they 
are kept in their places and perform only that 
which God intended them to, then may one say 
with Paul, "I keep under my body." Suppose 
Paul did not watch his eating. He feels a desire 
to eat something, which he knows would be in- 
jurious to him, or perhaps superfluous. This 
would be allowing his appetite for food to get the 



I Keep Under My Body. 135 

mastery over him. There would be no sin in the 
appetite, only in its wrong indulgence. So with 
drink. We are persuaded there are many Chris- 
tians who are not keeping under their body in this 
respect. They eat those things which they are con- 
scious hurts them, and drink that which is an in- 
jury to their health. Suppose Paul allowed him- 
self to take more time for sleeping than he should. 
This can grow on one till it will become abnormal. 
One will become sluggish and lazy. Then he could 
no longer say, "I am master over my body/' but 
his body in this respect would be his master. Sex- 
ual desire is pure and right. In the degeneration 
of humanity it is abnormal with many, and every 
one should look to God for deliverance from its 
perversity wherever it is discovered. But God 
placed within man that desire, and when only used 
with the approbation of God it is holy and right. 
But 0, the mastery that this desire gets over men! 
How the strong have been slain ! How the graves 
have been filled with its victims ! 

Not only does keeping the body under have ref- 
erence to the above named desires and attributes, 
but every member of the body should be so guarded 
that it is made to fill the place that our Creator 
intended it to fill. Each member should serve, and 
not be master. Paul tells us in Eom. 6:13: 
"Neither yield ye your members as instruments of 
unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves 
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, 



186 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

and your members as instruments of righteousness 
unto God." The only proper way to keep these 
members in their allotted place is to yield them 
entirely unto God, and trust Him to enable you to 
be the master over them. Paul had them under 
him. He had feet, but he did not allow his feet 
to carry him into any place where he would have 
to leave Jesus outside. He had hands, but with 
them he served the Lord, and did not use them in 
selfish interests, or in any way in which he could 
not glorify Christ. With his tongue he might have 
engaged in foolish talking, in evil speaking, in mur- 
muring and complaining, in lying, swearing and 
tale-bearing ; in fact, in a multitude of ways ; but 
he had One in him Who gave him grace and power 
over this member, so that he could say he kept that 
portion of the body in subjection. With his eyes 
he could behold things which would not be pleas- 
ing to God for him to see ; yet in keeping his body 
under it would involve the power over the eyes so 
that they would not look upon anything or person 
in any way that would be displeasing to Christ. 
He could hear with his ears, but he watched that 
part of his body, and would not yield to hearing 
anything that would mar his Christian character. 
The fact is, that Paul kept his body, with all that 
pertained to it, in its proper place. What a testi- 
mony! Would to God that all Christians could 
give such a testimony! It matters not what hered- 
ity may do for us; what weakness may have been 



I Keep Under My Body. 137 

transmitted ; what abnormal appetites one is cursed 
with; the power of the atonement in the baptism 
with the Holy Ghost is sufficient to enable any one 
to "keep under" his body. How good God is to 
provide such a great salvation ! In the work of 
sanctification a mighty destruction takes place, yet 
there is nothing taken away that is God-given and 
that He has any use for. No part of our human 
nature is destroyed. He does not spoil one's iden- 
tity. He takes not away our will. He destroys 
selfishness, but leaves our self. The "old man" 
goes, and the "new man" takes full possession. In 
this wonderful, God-empowered state, one is en- 
abled to "keep under" his body. If in our human 
frailty we discover any part of this nature endeav- 
oring to get out of its proper place, like Paul, re- 
ferring to the wrestlers and boxers, we simply are 
to lay it out and hold it down. To keep on top, 
so to speak, in all the workings of our body is a 
state which all Christians should covet. This is 
not only our glorious, blood-bought privilege, but 
also our bounden duty. Thus keeping our whole 
nature in its normal and Christ-approved sphere, 
we may hope to succeed in our Christian life, and 
after we have preached to others, not be castaways 
ourselves. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

BE NOT RIGHTEOUS OVER MUCH. 

"Be not righteous over much; neither make thy- 
self over wise; why shouldest thou destroy thy- 
self."— Eccl 7:16. 

It would seem at the first glance at this text that 
Solomon was swinging the danger signal, and 
warning the saints against being too righteous. 
Whether the king meant to do this or not, he haa 
not wanted help to keep it swinging on down the 
ages. In fact, it seems to be the delight of some 
to stand upon the walls of Zion (?) and keep up 
the warning, lest people indulge too profusely at 
the well of salvation. If righteousness be a dan- 
gerous element in the soul; if the well of water 
springing up into everlasting life can be partaken 
of too freely; if holiness and death, as some seem 
to think, are inseparable; if an overdose of the 
elixir of eternal life is possible, and may prove a 
poison to the patient; if all this be true, then may 
some conscientiously feel themselves delegated with 
authority to watch careless partakers of the divine 
nature, and warn them of the danger of over in- 
dulgence. But if righteousness, either in small or 
large quantities, works no harm; if the more of 
the divine nature one has the better ; if the stream 

138 



Be Not Righteous Over Much. 139 

of holiness passing through the soul leaves no dead- 
ly poison and is separable from death ; then we sea 
no reason for danger signals, or warning voices, or 
feelings of alarm. We ask, then, the question, "Is 
it possible to be over much righteous?" Are there 
any examples of such in the Bible? If so, in what 
respect were they over righteous ? Will the alarm- 
ist please look up the records and note a few of 
these examples before he scares any more of the 
sheep from the water of life ? 

What about people in these days? Are there 
now any who are righteous over much? We think 
we hear the answer, "Yes." Then in what respect ? 
Do you say, "Some will not ride on the street car, 
nor black their shoes, nor take milk from the dairy, 
nor bread from the baker, nor go to the postoffice on 
Sunday, and a score of other little things which 
other Christians do?" Now, to the law and to the 
testimony. Is there anything in the Word of God 
that condemns such people in these things, and 
proves that such conduct is over much righteous- 
ness? Do you say, "Some carefully abstain from 
wearing any gold upon their person, even to a 
wedding ring upon their finger; birds' feathers 
are an unknown quantity upon their hats; their 
dress is so very plain; they think they must be 
so careful in their eating; they never drink tea 
nor coffee, and swine's flesh never comes into their 
mouth''? All this indictment must be weighed by 
the Word of God, and these actions or omissions 



140 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

must be properly proved to be wrong, or these 
clients must not be convicted. In candid thought, 
is there anything in Scripture, either in the Old 
or New Testament, which declares that it is wrong 
to follow a course of action as described? If not, 
then it is simply prejudice that says it is right- 
eousness in over abundance. But I hear another 
say, "Some people are all the time talking about 
their religion, and saying the Lord has sanctified 
them, and they bother other people about not hav- 
ing what they have, and it makes me feel uncom- 
fortable. They are over much righteous." Search 
the Scriptures, and anything that the Word con- 
demns we will judge accordingly; but until then 
we will have to decide that their righteousness is 
within bounds. 

We have noticed this in the Word, that wher- 
ever there is a warning thrown out there are also 
examples of those who did not heed the signal. 
Now, as some would claim, here is a warning 
against too much righteousness; but where are the 
examples of heedlessness, either in the record of 
the Word or in modern times ? Where is the per- 
son that the Lord would pronounce too good? 
Where is the one that has done too nearly right? 
Where is the one that has been too faithful and 
lived too close to the commands of God? Perhaps 
some one is saying, "It does not mean that one 
can be too good or too upright, but it means self- 
righteousness." One has no more right to say that 



Be Not Righteous Over Much. 141 

text means self-righteousness than that it means 
any other abominable thing. Self-righteousness 
is an abomination, and is nothing but "filthy rags." 
Any of it is too much, and the text implies that 
whatever the thing in question is, some would be 
well enough, but too much would not be good. 

One of the largest religious newspapers in the 
United States has a page devoted to questions and 
answers. These questions are submitted to the 
people for answers, and the parties whose answers 
are chosen are paid for the same. In a recent issue 
of this paper appeared the following question, with 
its answer: 

"What is the meaning of Ecclesiastes 7:16: T>e 
not righteous over much; neither make thyself 
over wise ; why shouldest thou destroy tlryself ?' ' 

Answer: "This verse may be taken as a caution 
against a Pharisaical display of righteousness, 
which, while wonderfully scrupulous about the let- 
ter, too often loses sight of the spirit of God's 
command." 

Probably many other answers to this question 
came in, but this was chosen as the best. It is 
evident that the writer was not clear in his under- 
standing of the text, at least he was not sure, for 
he states, "This verse may be taken," etc., showing 
that while it may mean something else, yet it "may 
be taken" in the sense given. 

Of course, the Lord does not want anybody to 
do as this answer indicates, but that the text does 



142 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

not mean anything of the kind will appear when 
a proper study of the context is made. We believe 
it is right here that so much misunderstanding of 
the Word comes in. A passage of Scripture, as it 
stands alone, seems to teach one thing, and when 
used with its context means quite another. It 
means something, or it would not be there. God 
has not allowed meaningless words to come into 
His Book. Following the method of studying the 
context, we can see perhaps what the thought is. 
In the previous verse Solomon says: "All things 
"have I seen in the days of my vanity/' That is, in 
the days before he knew the Lord. In his natural, 
unsaved state, he observed some things. One thing 
was, he was watching the difference between the 
righteous and the wicked; the earthly prosperity 
and adversity of each. And, like the unsaved to- 
day, he was looking at things from an entirely 
wrong standpoint. This evidently is his thought 
when he refers to seeing things in his vanity. Then 
he goes on to mention some things which he had 
observed from that point of vision and at that time. 
He says: "There is a just man that perisheth in 
his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that 
prolongeth his life in his wickedness/*' This evi- 
dently was a temptation to him, just as it was to 
his father David, when he saw the wicked spread- 
ing themselves like green bay trees. David said : 

"For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw 
the prosperity of the wicked. 



Be Not Righteous Over Much. 143 

"For there are no bands in their death; but 
their strength is firm. 

"They are not in trouble as other men; neither 
are they plagued like other men." — Psalm 73 :3-5. 

He further said : "They have more than heart 
could wish." But he moved around to another lo- 
cation and looked at them from another stand- 
point, and said: "When I thought to know this, 
it was too painful for me; until I went into the 
sanctuary of God, then understood I their end." 
When he saw things from God's standpoint he was 
not tempted by them any more. His temptation 
was the thought that it hardly paid to be a fol- 
lower of God. The wicked seemed to get along 
better than he, and evidently the devil was tempt- 
ing him to think that salvation did not pay. This 
was no doubt Solomon's trouble in the days of his 
vanity. He saw the righteous perishing in his 
righteousness, and he saw the wicked prolonging 
his days in his wickedness. Then the temptation 
would be that there was no profit in salvation. 

These same things obtain to-day; some right- 
eous people are in poverty and suffering, and in it 
all they die; while some wicked people live in 
luxury and worldly prosperity, and in that they 
die. Looking at things from a purely worldly 
standpoint one might think that it does not pay to 
be a Christian ; but from the standpoint of heaven 
the view is entirely changed, as David soon saw. 
So, Solomon, seeing the state and latter end of both 



144 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

the righteous and the wicked, and judging things 
from his standpoint of vanity, it would be per- 
fectly natural for him to say that there is no use 
in putting too much stress on righteousness, for 
the righteous do not seem to get along any better, 
or even so well, as the wicked. But his godly 
training would not permit him to throw away all 
desire to be right; yet, feeling there would be no 
special benefit in any great quantity of righteous- 
ness, he says, in the language of the text: "Be 
not righteous over much; neither make thyself 
over wise; why shouldest thou destroy thyself?" 
And yet, not wanting to cast too much reflection 
upon the possession of righteousness, he evidently 
tries to even it up in the next verse by saying : "Be 
not over much wicked; neither be thou foolish 
(just the opposite condition to his former state- 
ment) ; why shouldest thou die before thy time?" 
I suppose Solomon thought, in his unregenerate 
state of vanity, that he was keeping "in the mid- 
dle of the road." He did not think it best to get 
too much religion, or to be too wicked. If we mis- 
take not, there are many of his order still living. 

Do not let the reader forget that this statement 
was the thought of Solomon in the days of his 
vanity, when he did not know 7 any better. 

To take this text to prove the possibility of be- 
ing too righteous certainly shows ridiculousness in 
the extreme. Yet it has been done ; how much we 
do not know. In Adam Clarke's time he cites a 



Be Not Righteous Over Much. 145 

case, and says : "It cannot be supposed, except by 
those who are entirely unacquainted with the na- 
ture of true religion, that a man may have too 
much holiness; too much of the life of God in his 
soul. And yet a learned Doctor, in three sermons 
on this text, has endeavored to show, out-doing 
Solomon's infidel, 'the sin, folly and danger of 
being righteous over much/ rare darkness !" 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

A JUST MAN FALLETH SEVEN TIMES. 

"For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth 
up again; but the wicked shall fall into mischief." 
—Prov. 24 :16. 

From the way some quote this text to justify 
their continual sinning, it seems that they have 
found comfort in it. If it means what some think 
it does, it certainly is very discouraging for the 
future of all Christians. If the work of Christ's 
redemption cannot do more than to let one "fall 
seven times a day," as it is generally quoted, and 
fall into sin, as is supposed, then we do not see 
much advantage of the follower of Christ over the 
unregenerate world. Is this the best Christ can 
do for a child of God? Is this the condition of 
His real followers? Then where is the blessed- 
ness of salvation? Indeed, where is salvation at 
all? 

If this text means that the just man falls into 
sin seven times a day, and the words of the apostle 
John are true where he says, "He that committeth 
sin is of the devil," then seven times a day a just 
man is of the devil. How would one of these 
pleaders for sin feel if one should say to him, "I 
am sorry for you, my brother, for I am persuaded 

146 



A Just Man Falleth Seven Times. 147 

that seven times a day on the average, you are 
really of the devil." We wonder if he would be- 
lieve the statement. We feel sure that he would 
resent it. The fact is, the text is not only mis- 
quoted, but misunderstood. It is something like 
the one some try to quote from Job 5:7. They 
say, "Man is prone to evil as the sparks fly up- 
ward." The Word neither says that, nor means 
that. It says: "Yet man is born unto trouble 
{labor, see margin), as the sparks fly upward." 
More or less trouble comes into every life, even of 
the holiest. Holiness is a comfort in the midst of 
it, but it does not exempt one from it. So, if these 
who pervert this text in our lesson would first read 
it, and then study it and the context, they would 
never honestly apply it in the direction they do. 

It might be a matter of information to some to 
learn that there are two words wanting in the text 
which are supposed by many to be there; one writ- 
ten and the other inferred, viz., the word "day" 
and the word "sin." Neither of these words are 
there, either by inference or by writing. What 
right has any one to say seven times a day, when 
there is nothing of the kind stated? One has no 
more right to say seven times a day than seven 
times a second. There is no time stated at all. As 
to the sin question, it is simply carnal, human con- 
jecture. There is not the shadow of proof that it 
implies sin. To say that it means sin is to fly in 
the face of the inspired Word of God, and dis- 



148 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

count the power and atonement of Jesus Christ. 
Thank God we have a better understanding of the 
Word, and a better appreciation of the work and 
willingness and power of our Christ. We wonder 
that these who have such an estimate of the work 
of Christ as to believe the best He has for us is a 
constantly sinning religion, do not give up in hope- 
less despair. Probably their belief in "the final 
perseverance of the saints/' as some have thought 
the text to mean, buoys them up and on in their 
(sinful) way. 

A little thought and study of the Word will con- 
vince one that there are more ways to fall than into 
sin. James says: "My brethren, count it all joy 
when ye fall/' Now, if to fall means necessarily 
to fall into sin, and if one follows James' instruc- 
tion to count it all joy, the one who sins the most 
frequently would then be in possession of the most 
joy. What a joyful set then the worst sinners in 
the world ought to be ! But James shows us that 
we may fall into something else besides sin. "My 
brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers 
temptations." The reason why we should count it 
all joy is because, as he adds in the next verse, 
"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith work- 
eth patience." Patience is something worth pos- 
sessing, and when we fall into different kinds of 
temptations we should rejoice at the result, which 
is more patience, if we constantly look to Christ. 

David once said, when he got into trouble : "Let 



A Just Man Falleth Seven Times, 149 

us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for His 
mercies are great ; and let me not fall into the hand 
of man." Thus, we see from the foregoing Scrip- 
tures, that there may be a falling into temptation, 
a falling into the hand of God, and a falling into 
the hand of man. Other places show that one may 
"fall into mischief," "fall into a ditch," "in time 
of temptation fall away," "fall into the condemna- 
tion of the devil." How are we to ascertain, then, 
what kind of a fall it is, when the text simply 
mentions the fall, without stating the nature of it ? 
We know of no better way than to take up the con- 
text. 

In the text before us we read that "A just man 
falleth seven times," but it does not say what the 
fall is, or where it is. The same text mentions 
another fall, and says what that is: "The wicked 
shall fall into mischief." This is certainly a dif- 
ferent fall from that of the righteous, because it 
follows the word "but," which indicates something 
opposite or different from the preceding state- 
ment. So, we know that the falling of the right- 
eous here does not mean into mischief. Let us see 
the previous verse in the context. "Lay not wait, 
wicked man, against the dwelling of the right- 
eous; spoil not his resting place." We see then 
that the righteous may suffer at the hands of the 
wicked. The words "righteous" and "just" mean 
the same thing here. He may be distressed in his 
resting place; he may have it all broken up; the 



150 A Just Man FalletJt Seven Times. 

wicked may lie in wait for him, as we read so often 
in the Word; he may fall many times into the 
hands of such men. So, when the statement is 
made that "a just man falleth seven times," we 
may know of a certainty that it means a falling 
into affliction, or some calamity, or trouble, at the 
hands of the wicked. Adam Clarke says that the 
word here translated to fall is never applied to 
sin. Such falling may come to any Christian. 
Indeed, the apostle Paul assures us that "All that 
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer perse- 
cution." We may expect to suffer it in the man- 
ner mentioned in the text. And, instead of it be- 
ing in favor of a sinning religion, it shows the 
possibilities of a salvation far beyond anything of 
the kind. In falling into these distresses we see 
that he has the power to rise again. Thank God 
there is nothing in this world that can come be- 
tween the righteous soul and Christ to overthrow 
him, if he looks to Christ for help. God has pro- 
vided grace sufficient to keep one under all cir- 
cumstances. Paul wrote to a certain people, stat- 
ing that they took joyfully the spoiling of their 
goods. So, when the wicked lie in wait against 
the dwelling of the righteous to spoil his resting 
place, we see that in falling into this distressing 
condition we may even rejoice, and be assured that 
we can rise out of it. Though we fall thus seven 
times, God will give us grace and power to rise. 
In the following verse we read: "Bejoice not 



A Just Man Falleth Seven Times. 151 

when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart 
be glad when he stumble th/ v Why not rejoice 
when this happens? Because he has none to help 
him out again. the advantage of the righteous 
over the wicked! Surely it pays to be a Chris- 
tion. 




CHAPTER XIX. 

I HAVE SEEN AN END OE ALL PERFECTION. 

"I have seen an end of all perfection; but Thy 
commandment is exceeding broad/' — Psalm 119: 
96. 

This text seems to be thrown in without any 
reference to anything going before or following 
after. There being no reference to any particular 
kind of perfection in connection with this state- 
ment, it is difficult to ascertain just what the 
Psalmist had in his mind. It is evident that he 
had no reference to the failure of what we call 
Christian perfection, for that would be directly 
in contradiction to the Word of God in other 
places. It would also contradict his own state- 
ments concerning himself in another psalm, where 
he says : "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect 
way. when wilt Thou come unto me? I will 
walk within my house with a perfect heart." — 
Ps. 101 :2. Those who would base an argument 
against holiness upon this isolated text are cer- 
tainly pressed for proof; and yet, with some it 
seems that anything that has the least shadow of 
a hint that way is grasped as a drowning man 
grasps for a straw. We are reminded of the story 
that is told concerning one of Eobert G. Ingersoll's 

152 



I Have Seen an End of All Perfection. 153 

lectures. While he was ridiculing the fact of there 
l>eing a hell, one of his drunken listeners called 
out, saying: "Make it strong, Bob; a good many 
of us are depending on you." 

Why should any one want any argument or 
statement to encourage him to remain in sin when 
God has provided a way to be saved to the utter- 
most? Why seek to find a flaw or failure in 
Christian perfection when God has opened up a 
way to give us this very grace, without which no 
man shall see the Lord? — Heb. 12:14. 

When we read anything about perfection in the 
Word, before we criticise, would it not be a good 
idea to find out just what kind of perfection is 
meant? We think if our critics would adopt this 
plan with the text before us they would wait a long 
time before criticising, for probably very few who 
are finding fault with the doctrine on account of 
this text understand its meaning. We feel free to 
say this, for, with many scholars, this meaning is 
a matter of disagreement. We think a note from 
the writings of Daniel Steele will throw the needed 
light upon this misunderstood text. The follow- 
ing is from him: 

"No text in the Old Testament is more fre- 
quently quoted against Christian perfection, usual- 
ly with an air of triumph, as though that doctrine 
is pulverized by the crushing momentum of this 
verse. Let us examine it. The original for per- 
fection in this passage is a once-used word in the 



154 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

Hebrew Bible. Hence, its meaning is with schol- 
ars a matter of dispute. But many of them agree 
that it is the complete ending and vanishing away 
of anything. Thus, Martin Luther renders it, 'I 
have seen an end of all things, but Thy law lasts/ 
Hence, the word perfection, not being in their ver- 
sion, the Germans have no difficulty with the text. 
All earthly things end, but the Bible lasts. The 
rendering makes the text concordant with Isa. 40 : 
6-8, and I Pet. 1:24-25, "All flesh is as grass; 
the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth 
away ; but the word of the Lord endureth forever." 
That the idea of this text in the alphabetical psalm 
is the evanescence of the earthly and the eternity 
of the spiritual, especially of divine revelation, is 
proven by the Septuagint version: "I have seen 
the end of every finishing up ; but Thy command- 
ment is very wide;" while the Vulgate reads: 
"Omnis consummationis finem vidi;" literally, "I 
have seen the end of every consummation." We 
confidently make the assertion that no candid 
scholar, however strong his prejudices against 
evangelical perfection, or loving God with all the 
heart, after a thorough study of this text, will 
ever again hurl it against the precious, Scriptural 
doctrine and blessed, conscious experience of 
myriads of His saints." — Daniel Steele, in "Half 
Hours With St. Paul" 



CHAPTEE XX. 



SUMMARY. 



As a matter of simple reference, we append the 
following synopsis, so that one may, in a moment, 
get the thought of any of these perverted texts 
without having to read a whole chapter : 

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
selves, and the truth is not in us!' — / John 1 :8. 

This does not mean the one who has received the 
experience of the preceding verse, wherein "the 
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all 
sin/' but it has reference to one who has not re- 
ceived the cleansing, and, while he has sin in him,, 
declares that he has no sin. 

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no y 
not one!' — Rom. 8:10. 

There is no one in his natural, unregenerate 
state that is righteous. When God puts salvation 
into one's heart He pronounces that one righteous, 
as is seen in numerous instances in the Word. Re- 
ferring to the places where "it is written/' one 
can readily see the class of people mentioned, 
among which "There is none righteous, no, not 



155 



156 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

"For there is no man that sinneth not! 3 — I 
Kings 8:46; I Chron. 6:86. 

"For there is not a just man upon earth, that 
doeth good, and sinneth not/' — Feci. 7:20. 

As is shown by the Bible exegetes, these verses 
in the original do not teach that all men are sin- 
ners, nor that all men sin ; but using in the trans- 
lation the potential mood, which is wanting in the 
Hebrew language, it would read, "may not sin" 
instead of reading, "sinneth not." It does not 
teach the necessity of sinning, but rather the pos- 
sibility of sinning. 

"Not as though I had already attained, either 
were already perfect." — Phil. 3:12. 

We know that Paul here did not mean that he 
was lacking in Christian perfection, for he men- 
tions the fact in the fifteenth verse that he has 
the experience. He simply alludes to the fact that 
he has not that resurrection perfection (see verse 
12) for which he is looking with joyful expectancy. 
Knowing that, "Blessed and holy is he that hath 
part in the first resurrection," he is desirous to be 
among those that shall have a resurrection out 
from among the dead, and so be in the first resur- 
rection. Such will be the experience of the holy 
•ones. 

"If I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me 
perverse." — Job 9:20. 

Job is not discountenancing perfection either in 



Summary. 157 

himself or in any one else. He is not casting any 
slur upon the testimony of that experience. He 
is not disclaiming the experience. He is simply 
making the statement that if he should claim per- 
fection as a reason why he should not suffer afflic- 
tion it would prove him perverse. Job's "com- 
forters" had been telling him that he was suffering 
so because he was such a sinner; but he was let- 
ting them know that they were not correct, and yet 
he would not plead perfection as a reason for ex- 
emption from suffering. Even if Job did not think 
himself to be perfect, as some would assert, the 
Lord settled that question before, by saying in the 
first verse of the book that he was perfect. 

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners,of whom I am chief. 33 — /. Tim. 1 :15. 

If Paul meant that he was the chief of sinners 
at the time of this writing, it certainly contradicts 
his other statements concerning his Christian ex- 
perience. What he declares here is, that he, being 
the chief of sinners, "obtained mercy" (see verse 
16), thus proving the faithful saying that Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He was 
the chief sinner saved, and not the chief sinner 
after he was saved. 

"Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I 
am pure from my sin? 33 — Prov. 20:9. 



158 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

No one can truthfully say that he has made his 
heart clean, or that he is pure from his sin by any- 
thing that he has done, except to come to the Lord 
and comply with the conditions of salvation, and 
let God do the work. Salvation comes from the 
Lord. It is not by human effort, nor by good works, 
nor by moral living. Salvation means life, and 
without the "power of an endless life" no one will 
ever reach heaven. When God makes one's heart 
clean and purifies him from sin it is well to notify 
others of this great fact, so that they may make 
application for the same blessed work of grace. 

The seventh chapter of Romans is a picture of a 
Jew, probably Paul himself, under the law, with- 
out grace, trying to do the right, and failing there- 
in, proving conclusively that no one is able in and 
of himself to save himself, or bring himself into a 
satisfied experience. 

It was not Paul's experience at the time of that 
writing, because he wrote immediately afterwards 
the eighth chapter, which shows the blessed deliv- 
erance and victory,- and both experiences could not 
have been his at the same time ; or, in other words, 
at the time he wrote the epistle. It was not Paul's 
experience in a justified state, for that would make 
the Word of God contradict itself, according to the 
teaching of the apostle John in the first epistle, 
third chapter, and eighth and ninth verses. Some 
of the expressions, though, used by Paul in this 



Summary. 159 

chapter express the struggles of the justified be- 
liever prior to sanctification. 

"And lest I should be exalted above measure 
through the abundance of the revelations, there 
was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger 
of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above 
measure/' — II Cor. 12:1. 

That any one should suppose for a moment that 
this thorn was carnality is simply ridiculous. He 
received it at the time of the revelations; then he 
did not have it before. This settles the carnality 
question. 

Weighing all the evidence in the case, we have 
no doubt that it was a mangled facial condition. 
At the time of his stoning at Lystra, he no doubt 
received injuries about the face and eyes that made 
it most embarrassing to him in his work, and made 
it necessary for him to have constant assistance in 
the great work devolving upon him. 

The statements of Job's "comforters," men- 
tioned in chapter ten, when properly understood, 
do not prove by inspiration that God puts no trust 
in His servants; that He charges His angels with 
folly ; that man cannot be clean ; that the heavens 
are not clean in His sight, and that the stars are 
not pure. These statements should never be quoted 
to prove the sinful condition of God's children. 
The testimony of Job, who was a perfect man, and 



160 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

the testimony of the Lord, was that these men did 
not always speak the right things. Surely, in these 
statements, they did not speak that which was 
right. Hence, their words here, instead of being 
the inspired words from the Lord, were evidently 
of their own mind, and not correct. 

"And He said unto him, Why callest thou me 
good ? There is none good but one, that is, God/' — » 
Matt. 19:17. 

It does not mean that there are no good people 
in the world, even in grace, for that would con- 
tradict the statements where good people are men- 
tioned. To say that there are none good in their 
natural state would harmonize with the teaching 
in other places, where we learn that "There is none 
righteous, no, not one," and "There is none that 
doeth good, no, not one." To say that no one is 
good, in the absolute sense, but God, would har- 
monize with the Word throughout. Hence, the 
Word teaches that there are people who are good, 
made so by grace ; that in their unregenerate state 
there are none good; that none, even in the high- 
est state of grace, are good in the absolute sense; 
this belongs to God only. 

"Who shall change our vile body, that it may be 
fashioned like unto His glorious body?" — Phil. 
8:21. 

The Kevised Version makes this text plain. In- 



Summary. 161 

stead of saying "vile body/' it says "the body of 
our humiliation." We see, then, that it has no 
reference to a sinful or corrupt body, but simply 
to the body of our humble state in this world be- 
fore the glorified state beyond. 

"I die daily r— I Cor. 15:81. 

This verse does not have any reference to dying 
more and more unto sin. It has no reference to 
any further dying to self or deeper crucifixions 
after one is sanctified, as so many quote it to mean. 
The apostle Paul is simply calling attention to the 
fact that he is in danger of losing his earthly life 
any day. The continued persecutions, the liability 
of being thrown in with wild beasts, or the danger 
of meeting death in some other way, was constantly 
staring him in the face. Hence, in view of all this, 
he said, "I die daily." In other words, "My life 
is in jeopardy daily." 

"Be ye angry, and sin not" — Eph. 1^:26. 

This is no license to get mad. It is no license to 
have "righteous indignation," which makes one act 
the same as other people do when they get mad. 
Instead of it being a command to be angry in some 
proper sense, or a permission for it, it is just the 
opposite — it is a prohibition. The true thought, 
then, is. "'Be not ye angry, lest ye commit sin." 
Or, by emphasizing the last word "not" we get the 
true meaning: "Be ye angry, and sin not" It 



162 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

must mean this, or we make the context contradict 
this verse. In the context a little further on we 
read that we must put away anger. Of course, the 
inspired apostle would not tell us in one verse to 
do something, and then right afterwards tell us to 
put away that same thing. 

"Forgive us our sins." — Luke 11 :Jf. "Forgive 
us our debts." — Matt. 6:12. 

Whoever does wrong should confess it and pray 
for forgiveness. Whether it is a known sin or a 
sin of ignorance, application to God for pardon 
should be made. That it is necessary for one to 
sin knowingly day by day, the prayer does not 
teach. That everybody in any state of grace will 
do things ignorantly, which afterwards they may 
see, we all know, and as all these things will throw 
one into debt to God, he should pray the prayer 
that the Lord taught His disciples. True, the 
disciples were, before Pentecost, in a state where 
they were much more liable to sin in various ways 
than after Pentecost. Even the Pentecostal ex- 
perience will not free one from mistakes, blunders, 
misjudgments, and some other human frailties. 

"But I keep under my body, and bring it into 
subjection; lest that by any means, when I have 
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" 
—I Cor. 9:21. 

Paul kept his physical being in subjection; he 



Summary. 163 

was the master, and not his body. He had no ref- 
erence to carnality, the body of sin, for he says in 
Eom. 6:6 that such was destroyed. He means his 
physical nature, together with its attributes of ap- 
petites, passions, desires, which, if kept in the place 
that God intended them to be, would be holy and 
light; but if allowed to get out of their proper 
sphere would be corrupt and sinful. Every sanc- 
tified soul should do as Paul did — keep his body 
under. 

"Be not righteous over much; neither make thy- 
self over wise; why shouldest thou destroy thy- 
selfr—Eccl 7:16. 

This is not a command against Pharisaical pre- 
tentions to piety. It does not teach that it is pos- 
sible to become too righteous. In the preceding 
verse we learn that the statement was made in the 
days of Solomon's vanity. The thought is that 
Solomon, before he knew the way of salvation, saw 
the state of the righteous, and also the state of the 
wicked ; and from his carnal view he could not see 
wherein it paid to be very righteous; so he said, 
"Be not righteous over much/' He did not feel 
free to throw aside all righteousness, but thought 
that it might be best to "keep in the middle of the 
road." This thought was in the days of his vanity, 
and not at the time of writing that text. 

"For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth 
np again/'' — Prov. 2J+:16. 



164 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

There is no thought of sin in the text. The word 
"sin" is not mentioned, as so many seem to think 
it is. Placing this alongside of the previous text 
we learn that the wicked may bring calamity upon 
the just ; through the wickedness of the wicked the 
righteous fall into trouble and calamity seven 
times; but out of it all they rise again. 

"I have seen an end of all perfection; out Thy 
commandment is exceeding broad." — Psalm 119: 
96. 

It does not mean that he has seen an end of 
Christian perfection, nor the failure of it in any 
way, for the Word of God does not thus contradict 
itself; and the psalmist himself believed differ- 
ently in his own experience. Evidently the 
thought is, that there is an end of all earthly 
things, but the spiritual, the things of God, are 
eternal, ever abiding. 




CHAPTEE XXI. 



CONCLUSION. 



To say that there are no apparent contradictions 
in the Word regarding the life of holiness would 
"be false. To say there are real discrepancies would 
likewise be false. God's word does not contradict 
itself. Even if some apparently opposite state- 
ments are found we should exercise as much wis- 
dom as faithful jurors in a court. They weigh 
the evidence of both sides, and decide in favor of 
the preponderance. Would it not be wise on our 
part to do the same ? While there are some places 
in the Scriptures which seem, without investiga- 
tion, to indicate the impossibility of living a holy 
life here, yet there are multiplied times as many 
which make positively clear the very opposite. 
Shall we not decide according to the preponderance 
of evidence? 

God commands us to be holy; to be perfect in 
our sphere as Christians, as He is perfect in His 
sphere as God. We are to fill our sphere as Chris- 
tians as God fills His sphere as God. We cannot 
be perfect gods, but we can be perfect Christians. 
To demand any more than this, such as absolute 
perfection, would make His commands transcend 
our ability to perform ; to demand any less, would 

165 



166 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

be inconsistent with His moral government. The 
standard of salvation, then, could not be different 
without interfering with the essential attributes 
of God, viz., mercy on the one hand, and justice on 
the other. 

We have been astonished at intelligent men — 
yea, ministers of the Gospel — astonished at the 
way they handle the Word of God in regard to this 
sin question. Only to-day we ran across a book of 
Bible Eeadings, written by a minister of thte Gos- 
pel, and under the chapter entitled "Why Does 
the Christian Sin?" we copy the following, word 
for word: 

"We wish to do the right, but we do the evil. 
The old man is alive still, and he finds a rival. 
There is war (Eom. 7:23). Here are two natures 
existing side by side in the Christian: the evil in- 
citing to evil, the good urging to good. 

"First John 3 :9 is true as it stands ; it is the 
idea in the original. We must not attempt to ex- 
plain it away, for it is, evidently, spoken not of the 
old man, but of the new, that which is born of God. 
It is, therefore, like God, and cannot sin. Sin is 
of the devil ; the old nature is as he is, loving sin. 

"This might be illustrated to a slight extent by 
the process of grafting. Take a wild peach tree, 
put in a graft from the Crawford variety, and the 
graft will bear Crawford peaches. The graft is 
the insertion of a new nature; it is not intended 
as an improvement of the wild peach, but to pro- 



Conclusion. 167 

duce a widely different result. The old stock will 
send out shoots ; these, if allowed to grow, will bear 
bitter peaches, so that at the same time you would 
have bitter and sweet fruit on the same tree. The 
Crawford branch cannot bear bitter fruit, neither 
can the old stock bear the luscious Crawford. So 
in man's new nature, he cannot, he does not, sin; 
but in his old he does. Forgiveness of sins does not 
affect the nature that produces the sin ; it will con- 
tinue to incite to evil until a separation is made in 
death between the spiritual and the carnal. 

"What advantage, then, hath the Christian ? He 
cries out, Who shall deliver from this dead body? 
(Eom. 7:24.) Christ delivers. (Rom. 6:6-8.) 
'Our old man is crucified with Him/ 'If we be 
dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live 
with Him/ Col. 3:3 makes it more forcible: 'Ye 
are dead/ As far as God's law is concerned, we 
are dead. What is true of our Vicar, is true of us. 
He died, so there is, therefore, no condemnation, 
because we are, in Him, united by adoring faith. 
God does not look to the believer for a satisfaction 
to violated law; that He seeks from our Substi- 
tute, our Daysman, our Shield, our Righteousness. 
We are accepted in the Beloved; we are imperfect 
in ourselves, but in Him complete. 

"What are we to do when we sin? Go to the 
Father. He is faithful, just; He forgives and 
cleanses. He is glad to do it. (Luke 15.) Then 
'reckon ye yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive 



168 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord/ 'Let 
not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body. 3 
'Grow in grace/ " 

Here we have the anti-holiness doctrine in a nut 
shell. It is a real epitome of the error which we 
have to meet from day to day. If it had been 
written on purpose to show how much beautiful 
error could be condensed into a given space, we do 
not see how it could be improved. It is a typical 
rendering of the monstrous heresies of the last 
days. We do not want to pass it by without point- 
ing out some of its errors. By so doing we show 
forth some of the leading delusions of holiness 
skeptics. 

1. It teaches sanctification at death. It simply 
assumes the thought and gives no "thus saith the 
Lord" at all. The whole thing of death sanctifica- 
tion is mere assumption and presumption. Why 
should one build up a system of belief without a 
word of Scripture to back it up ? 

2. It teaches that carnality is in the physical 
instead of the spiritual being. The great deliver- 
ance is to come, according to the statement made, 
when the spiritual is separated from the carnal at 
death. Now, the only separation that takes place 
at death is between the body and the spirit. If,. 
then, we are to be delivered from carnality only at 
death, we are shut up to the delusion that carnality 
is located in the physical, and not the spiritual be- 
ing. This doctrine was certainly obtained some- 



Conclusion. 169 

where outside the Word of God, for there is no 
teaching in the Bible to substantiate such a notion. 

3. It teaches an imputed holiness only; Christ's 
robe of righteousness covering up our sins, and God 
accepting His perfection and paying no attention 
to our imperfections. We think the devil would 
not want anything better than to make one feel 
that he has a standing in Christ, and could now sin, 
and God would take no notice of it. 

4. It teaches that our new nature, that which 
is born of God, does not sin, but that our old nature 
does sin. The Crawford graft will produce luscious 
Crawford peaches, but the old, wild stalk will keep 
bearing the bitter peaches. If the new nature did 
sin, we wonder what kind of sin it would be. We 
wonder if it would resemble the old kind. "But," 
say they, "the new man cannot sin." Then some 
part of us after regeneration is certainly relieved of 
free moral agency. It has no power to do wrong. 
It is simply a spiritual machine, relieved of all 
power of choice. Volition, then, does not exist. 
Such imbecility of thought is disgusting ! 

The old stalk will keep on sinning, and the new 
graft will be all right. So, if one has the new 
graft, no matter if the old stalk does keep throw- 
ing up the old kind of shoots, he is a Christian 
just the same! Let us see if this will hold good. 
Suppose that old, wild peach tree had been in the 
habit of bearing such fruit as theft, lying, adultery, 
etc., and now, after receiving the new graft, and 



170 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

becoming a Christian, that same fruit of stealing, 
lying and committing adultery should be seen on 
its branches, what would the believers of such a 
doctrine think ? Would they say, "Q, he is . a 
Christian all right; that is simply the old man; 
the new man would not, could not, do such things." 
But I think I hear some of them say, "No, if he 
was seen doing such things we would know that he 
had never had the new man." Then where are we 
to draw the line ? Sin is sin, and while these just 
mentioned would indicate that the new man was 
wanting, would not other sins indicate the same? 
We would think the old, wild peach tree, if it bore 
fruit at all, would be likely to bear the same kind it 
did before. The fact is, the thing will not hold to- 
gether. The law does not, if it has been transgressed, 
punish the old nature and let the new nature go ; it 
punishes the man. Salvation changes the man, and 
he that was a sinner before is a changed man now, 
and saved from his old life of sin. It is true he has, 
till sanctified, the old man, but that does not have 
sway; it is controlled, and does not bear sinful 
fruit. God proposes to rid us of this element, and 
fill us with His Holy Spirit, and renovate us 
through and through. 

5. It teaches us to reckon ourselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin when we are not dead indeed. It 
teaches us to reckon what is not true. It simply 
means for us to reckon a lie. This erroneous doc- 
trine is everywhere in Christendom. The idea of 



Conclusion. 171 

reckoning a lie ! Does not the Word warn us 
against the danger of believing a lie? They say, 
"The old man is not dead, but we are to reckon 
him as dead." The thing we want, though, is his 
death. Simply reckoning a thing dead does not kill 
it. But if we fulfill the conditions of full salvation 
as laid down in the Word, so that God can come in 
and perform the execution of the old man, and then 
in faith reckon ourselves to be "dead indeed unto 
sin," we shall find that our dead reckoning will 
prove correct ; otherwise it will prove a delusion. 

6. It teaches that sin will keep coming up, but 
as fast as it comes the blood will cleanse. That 
is, sin is like an old sore which cannot be eliminat- 
ed, but the best that can be done is, when it pours 
out its impurity, let it be washed off. The blood 
cleanses from all sin, but only as fast as it makes 
its appearance. Such a doctrine ! This is really 
what some believe. We feel like writing in con- 
nection with such nonsense, Ultima Thule, for cer- 
tainly it seems to be the jumping-off place. 

7. It brings up the seventh chapter of Romans 
to prove the impossibility of sin eradication now. 
We wonder what Paul would think, if he were liv- 
ing, if he should hear all those who pervert his plain 
teaching, and say at the same time, "My experience 
is like the apostle PauPs." There lies before me 
just now a paper in which is written an article de- 
scribing a great holiness revival meeting. The pas- 
tor of one of the leading churches of the great city 



172 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

in which the revival was being held, arose and made 
some kind remarks concerning the wonderful meet- 
ings, stating that God was with the people, and 
finally added: "I have not the experience that 
many of you claim; I am like Paul; 'I have not 
apprehended;' but I bid you God-speed from my 
heart." The thought is, he was not sanctified as 
some of them claimed to be; he was like Paul. 
That is, Paul was not sanctified, consequently was 
not so far in the Christian life as they claimed to 
be. "Wrested Scriptures !" How they are twisted 
and wrung from their intended meaning ! 

8. It teaches verily, that the atonement of 
Christ is a partial failure. If sin has got so hidden 
away in the recesses of our nature that it cannot 
be eradicated till death, and if it is true that only 
as it is left in this mortal body, when the spirit 
goes to God, can we be free from it, then certainly 
the atonement cannot reach it, and so must be at 
least a partial failure. What an insult to Christ! 
Thank God we have learned the better way. 

The whole thing is a bundle of contradictions 
and perverted Scriptures. It lays itself liable to 
the criticism that the Christian has no advantages 
over the sinner, and then tries to prove that he has, 
but fails to make it clear, simply putting it on a 
false hope of dead reckoning, which is very dead 
indeed. 

Peter tells us there are some Scriptures which 
people wrest unto "their own destruction." There 



Conclusion. 173 

seems to be no place where this is more apparent 
than in connection with the subject of full salva- 
tion. As salvation is the most important thing in 
the world, and holiness is the fulness of this most 
important thing, we see then how clearly one may 
wrest these blessed Scriptures bearing upon this 
great salvation, with tremendous havoc to the soul. 
Are there not wrecks everywhere, that once were 
clearly saved? All because they rejected the light 
of holiness. When the children of Israel failed to 
pass on from Kadesh-Barnea into the Promised 
Land, instead of remaining at that sacred spot 
(Kadesh means holiness), they turned their backs 
upon Canaan and went into the "howling wilder- 
ness," and their bleached bones lined the trail of 
their wanderings till the whole army, above twenty 
years of age, save Caleb and Joshua, had perished 
by the way. So it is to-day. When God calls the 
convert from the border land of the Canaan of 
perfect love, and he refuses to respond to the call, 
he will surely, and soon, forfeit his justification, 
and his spiritual bones will bleach by the wayside. 
the spiritually dead carcasses that are seen all 
over this fair land of ours, simply because they 
failed to go in and "possess the land !" And why 
did they not go in? One great reason is, because 
they were not careful with the Word of God, but 
rather wrested it from its true meaning, and then 
hid under the refuge of lies thus formed, securing 
for themselves "their own destruction." 



174 Wrested Scriptures Made Plain. 

Some of the very texts thus wrested and made 
to bring such a curse to their souls, when properly 
understood, are the very ones calculated to assist 
in leading one on into the light of holiness. How 
sad to think that what God intended for light 
should be used for darkness; that what He intend- 
ed for a help should be turned into a hindrance; 
that what He meant to bless should be made a 
curse; that what He meant for a life of holiness 
should be construed to mean a life of sin! the 
disappointment some must be to Christ! What a 
disappointment some will be to their own souls! 
What an awful wail will come up at the last great 
day ! "Herein is our love made perfect (experience 
of holiness), that we may have boldness at the day 
of judgment." (I John 4:17.) If we fail in re- 
ceiving this love, or if we forfeit the same, then 
may we expect to lack the judgment day prepara- 
tion. God bless the holiness movement. God 
bless the faithful witnesses of holiness. God help 
the Christians seeking for the light. God pity 
those who are turning their light into darkness, and 
wresting His truth unto their souls^ destruction. 
Let us be true to God, true to His Word, true to 
each other, and true to ourselves. We shall soon 
be through with this world; let us have the ex- 
perience, and live the life we shall wish we had, 
when we face the stern realities of the other world. 
Amen. 



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